Study to Assess the Reasons for Covid-19 Vaccination Refusal by Health Care Workers of L3 Level Hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: To control the COVID-19 pandemic, the only measure could be vaccination drive among country individuals. Pathetically, immunization refusal has been a common story in the media for well longer than 10 years. The study aimed to enlist the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine refusal among health workers of L3 level hospital and also to study the reasons for COVID-19 vaccination refusal by health care workers of L3 level hospital. To carry out this present study research question, the objectives were to prepare a detail list comprising of refusal reasons and also to find out correlations between refusal reasons and selected demographical variables like age/sex. Material(s) and Method(s) The present study consisted of 192 subjects from the Out-Patient Department at the Department of Medicine of Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, U.P. conducted between late December 2020 and March 2021. Informed written consent were obtained from all the study group subjects. A Questionnaire based research design was adopted for this study to assess the reasons for COVID -19 vaccination refusal by Health care workers of L3 level hospital. Result(s) The total study subjects involved in the present project were 192 with the mean age of the study population being 26.33 +/- 5.31 years. Majority of the hesitant respondents were females (56.8%). Out of all the 192 healthcare workers involved in the study, maximum (n=75) were from the allied courses followed by paramedical staff (n=61) and clinical doctors (n=56). Out of all the reasons enlisted for refusal of vaccination, sickness (n=51, 26.6%) was the single most dominant reason followed by drug allergy (n=23;12%), pregnancy (n=18;9.4%), food allergy (n=12;6.2%) and lactation (n=8;4.2%), with 79 respondents giving various other reasons for refusal like parents' denial (n=26), followed by presence of a medical condition (n=18), travel and scheduled appointments for personal/official tasks (n=4 each). A total of 27 respondents had failed to cite any specific reason for refusal. Reasons for refusal showed a significant variation for different age groups, sexes and professional categories (p<0.001). In effect, there was a statistically significant difference among different professional categories with respect to reasons for vaccine hesitancy (p=0.001). Conclusion(s) Improving intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in India is influenced by the effectiveness of the vaccine. To retard the progress of the pandemic, it will require acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine along with targeted health communication strategies that effectively reach the populace. Copyright © 2022 Necati Ozpinar. All right reserved.