Assessment of Awareness and Acceptance of Vaccines against Coronavirus disease 2019 among General Population in Western Maharashtra

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to ravage the world, with India being highly
affected. A vaccine provides the best hope for a permanent solution to control the pandemic. However, to be effective, a
vaccine must be accepted and used by a large majority of the population. The study was aimed to investigate the acceptability
of COVID-19 vaccines in addition to the attitudes toward these vaccines among the general population.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire study was conducted among the general population of western Maharashtra to
assess the awareness and acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine. The structured, self-administered, close-ended questionnaire
was designed to collect the data which consisted of two parts and comprised of 22 questions. The reliability and validity of the
instrument were calculated (Cronbach’s alpha- 0.628). Informed consent was also taken from all the participants. Statistical
analysis was done using descriptive statistics.
Results: In this study, there were a total of 430 participants aged above 18 years. Among the study population, 48.8% believed
that the COVID-19 vaccination would be safe while only 45.6% believed that it would be effective. Around 52.3% of the study
population were planning to get COVID-19 vaccination whenever it is available while the remaining participants (14%) were not
intending to get vaccinated. However, 31.2% of the population was not sure to get vaccinated.
Conclusion: The study identified concerns among the respondents regarding the potential efficacy and safety COVID-19 vaccine
thereby providing an important perspective for possible interventional educational programs to enhance the vaccination rate.