A cross-sectional study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy at peri-urban areas in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.

ABSTRACT

Vaccination is a potential public health solution for the prevention of infection. It reduces the severity of symptoms in case of COVID-19. Despite the availability of vaccines, some people are hesitant to be vaccinated. The objectives of the study were to measure the proportion of vaccine hesitancy among the peri-urban population and identify its determinants. An adult population of 303 from two peri-urban areas in the field practice area of Urban Health Training Centre, Rama Medical College were interviewed from 22nd February 2021 to 25th March 2021. Epicollect 5 was used for collecting data and STATA 16 was used for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to compute the adjusted odd ratio (95% confidence interval) to find out the determinants of vaccine hesitancy. Three Cs model guided tools of data collection and analyses. More than one fourth (28%) of the participants were vaccine-hesitant whereas 34.6% of participants had no confidence in the vaccine. Other reasons were complacency (40.6%) and convenience (35.9%). Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with gender [AOR = 2.40 (1.12-5.16)] and trust in government [AOR = 0.18 (0.08-0.45)] but no association with age group, political affiliation and source of information about the vaccine.  It is important to build the trust of people in vaccines, make it convenient and resolve the issues that are making them complacent. The health system needs to involve non-governmental organisations to reach out to those for whom there are issues of availability and approach.