ABSTRACT
Background Covid-19 has unquantifiable negative impacts on the world's socio-economic parameters. The rapid discovery of vaccines to fight this pandemic is a monumental scientific breakthrough. Study objective The study assessed willingness of adult Nigerians to accept Covid-19 vaccine and elucidated on factors influencing such decisions. Methodology Cross-sectional design was employed among 400 respondents recruited using multi-stage random sampling technique in Ilorin, Kwara-State, Nigeria. Pretested interviewer-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out. Results Mean age ±SD of respondents was 40.85±13.75 and 215 (53.7%) of them were males. Those who possessed good knowledge of Covid-19 were 321 (80.3%), but few respondents had misconceptions regarding its causation. Attitude to Covid-19 vaccination was positive in 360 (90%) of the respondents, 278 (69.5%) were willing to accept the vaccine. Respondents' Covid-19 knowledge and attitude to its vaccination were the main determinants of willingness to receive the vaccine. Conclusion The Nigerian government urgently needs to leverage on the positive attitude of the people to fully implement its covid-19 vaccination policies which can ensure effective coverage and equitable access to the revolutionary Covid-19 vaccines. Awareness campaign on practice of other preventive measures should be sustained to produce a synergistic control effort
Subject(s)
Patient Acceptance of Health Care , Pandemics , COVID-19ABSTRACT
Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination in India started in 2006 with SA-14-14-2 live attenuated JE vaccine (JEV) following large outbreaks of JE in some districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 2005. Age groups 1-15 yrs are first vaccinated with a single dose of JEV in a campaign mode followed by integration of this vaccine in routine immunization. It is beyond doubt that added to vaccination campaigns, proper awareness on JE can play significant role in controlling the disease.Methods: An observational study with cross sectional design was conducted in Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata during JE Vaccination campaign during January, 2018 among 85 respondents, to assess the awareness on JE, among care-givers who brought their children for vaccination at the immunization clinic.Results: It was found that only 37.6% the respondents attending the campaign knew the name of the disease; 17.6% respondents were aware about disease transmission, and 5.9% could state two or more clinical features that might be associated with Japanese Encephalitis. 69.4% had no knowledge of up to what age JE vaccines can be administered; 23.5% said it can be administered till the beneficiaries attain fifteen years of age.Conclusions: IEC activities during JE vaccination campaign was not able raise awareness on JE to the desired level. However beneficiaries were informed about service availability and could be mobilised to come for vaccination.