ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Studying vaccine hesitancy is important for helping improve vaccine coverage against COVID-19. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a rural community in India. Methods: A cross-sectional study of all adults aged over 18 yr was undertaken during July-August 2021, in a village outside Bengaluru city in southern India. Results: In our study, 68.7 per cent of the eligible 297 adult population accepted vaccination immediately, another 9.4 per cent hesitated but accepted vaccination without delay, a further 10.4 per cent delayed their vaccination and the remaining 11.5 per cent refused vaccination. The prevalence (95% confidence interval) of vaccine hesitancy was 21.9±4.8 per cent. Full vaccination was higher among males (76%) compared to females (58%, P<0.001). Those who hesitated and delayed vaccination (converts) were more likely to be from a nuclear family, whereas those who refused the vaccine were from a joint/three-generation family. Those who refused vaccination were adversely influenced by social media predominantly as also their religious/cultural beliefs and distrust on the pharmaceutical industry. Those who delayed but accepted vaccination were positively influenced by healthcare professionals and others who had accepted the vaccine recently. Geographic factors, cost of vaccine, and mode of administration were not the major concerns. Interpretation & conclusions: Vaccine uptake is a continuum. Our study helped identify the characteristics of those who delayed vaccination versus those who refused vaccination. This will help policymakers, programme managers and healthcare professionals to focus priority action on population subgroups for improving individual- and population-level protection.
ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes education enables patients to be more involved in their care and helps in delaying complications. Mobile phone penetration in rural India is high and provides us with an opportunity to use mobile phones in delivering diabetes education messages. So the objective of the study is to study mobile phone usage among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus in an urban sub-center.Methods: A list of all the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was obtained from the health management information system records of the rural health and center and structured interview schedule was administered. Universal sampling method was used.Results: Around half of the diabetic patients included in the study (55.6%) owned a personal mobile phone, 44.4% had access to a smart phone in the household and 35.4% had internet connectivity on their phone. Predominant mobile phone usages included making phone calls (54.4%), short messaging services (44.8%), listening to music (17.6), wake up alarm (14.4%) and capturing photos/videos (12.8%). Very few participants reported using mobile phone for health-related purposes (12.8%) and usage of health-related apps (10%). A large proportion of participant reported that they would like to receive reminders for clinic visits (54.0%), set alarms as reminders to improve adherence to medication (53.6). Chi-square test was used to find associations.Conclusions:Two-thirds of the patients with known diabetes have access to a mobile phone at the household level. Mobile phones have potential application to be used as channel for health education, reminders for clinic visits and to improve adherence to medication among patients with diabetes in urban India