ABSTRACT
Background: Vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most desired solution to combat COVID-19. We examined the willingness to accept the vaccine and reasons for vaccine hesitancy, and identified some factors associated with the vaccine hesitancy among the socio-economically disadvantaged urban population from Delhi, India. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of 1539 households from 31 urban clusters. Data on socio-demographics, health beliefs, and willingness to accept the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were collected through a face-to-face interviewer-administered, pre-tested questionnaire from an adult member. Vaccine acceptance/hesitancy was analysed by various socio-demographic and health belief variables. Multinomial regressions were carried out to identify the factors associated with the vaccine hesitancy. Results: Overall, 64.9% (95% CI: 62.5 to 67.3) of the respondents would accept the vaccine, 17.4% (95% CI: 15.6 to 19.4) were undecided, and 17.7% (95% CI: 15.8 to 19.7) would not accept the vaccine. The reasons for not accepting the vaccine were: belief that they had immunity (12.9%), the corona was a hoax (11.8%), the vaccine was not necessary (7.4%), and did not want to disturb the natural bodily systems by the vaccine (5.6%). The undecided group mainly would like to wait and see (37.7%), decide when the vaccine become available (11.6%), will take if everyone in their community takes (10.4%). Multinomial logistic regression identified older age, low perceived susceptibility of contracting COVID-19, low perceived severity of COVID-19, low self-efficacy to protect against COVID-19, and unawareness and non-use of Arogyasetu App as significant predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions: Two-thirds of Delhi's low-income groups would accept the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Vaccine hesitancy was associated with older age, low perceived susceptibility, low perceived severity, and low self-efficacy to protect themselves from COVID-19. Hence, efforts are needed to address these issues and vaccine concerns to increase the vaccine uptake.
ABSTRACT
Vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most desired solution to combat COVID-19. Understanding the willingness to accept vaccines is essential to make appropriate strategies for the vaccination programme's success. There was a lack of published literature in India among medical students. Hence, we conducted this online, cross-sectional study to assess the knowledge and willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines among undergraduate medical students of a medical school in Delhi. A complete enumeration of all the undergraduate medical students was done. All the students were invited to participate in this online survey. The questionnaire through Google forms was shared through email and WhatsApp. The questionnaire contained questions on the socio-demographic details, questions related to the knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines, willingness to accept the vaccine and vaccination status of the participant. Descriptive and multiple logistic regression analyses were carried out. Out of 320 students contacted, 298 consented to participate in the survey, and 274 participants (85%) completed the questionnaire. Three-fourths of the participants were male; the mean age of the study participants was 19.6 years. Only 70.4% were willing to accept the vaccine. Those who perceived COVID-19 vaccines as safe (AOR=3.946; 95% CI: 1.946 to 7.912); and effective (AOR=2.079; 95% CI: 1.054 to 4.101); and who has knowledge about the vaccines (AOR=2.206; 95% CI: 1.186 to 4.104) were more likely to accept the vaccine. There is a need for enhancing the knowledge on vaccines, and their safety and effectiveness to promote the vaccine acceptance.