ATTITUDE OF POPULATION TOWARDS COVID-19 VACCINE: An Exploratory Study in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Background: COVID-19 is a deadly viral infection that kills many people throughout the globe. The goal of this study was to find out how people in Pakistan felt about the COVID-19 vaccine.Method: Convenience and respondent-driven sampling method was used to conduct an online survey with 15 closed-and open-ended questions to a sample of 330 participants. The proportion of people who had a positive attitude towards vaccination vs. those who had a negative attitude towards vaccination was revealed by the closed-ended questions. The open-ended questions elicited qualitative data on why peo-ple accepted or rejected the vaccination.Results: 62.9% of the total number of respondents, male 1.97 times more likely (OR 1.97, CI 1.08-3.58) than female, 80% younger than 50 years, higher age groups, 71.3% married, 69.3% of the working population intended to get vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine. People who held pro-vaccine health beliefs, had knowledge of, access to the COVID-19 vaccine, were employed, or under government pressure to get vaccinated, or visited public vaccination location, reported a positive attitude towards vaccination. People with safety concerns, social pressure of not getting vaccinated, low levels of awareness, trust and belonging to communities with anti-vaccination beliefs were likely to have negative attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine.Conclusion: This study helps to identify the attitudes of people and has implications for COVID-19 immunization efforts in Pakistan for various population segments.