A study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare professionals in India

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared global pandemic in November 2019 and to combat the devastating impact researchers collectively organized to develop safe and effective vaccines and till date billion doses of vaccine were delivered. Aim – to assess Healthcare Professionals’ (HCP) attitudes about vaccine safety, efficacy and acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine, a web-based cross sectional study was performed among HCP in a private tertiary postgraduate teaching and research setting at Chennai, India. Methods. A google forms survey was distributed by sharing the link among HCPs directly by authors through personal networks, professional associations and social media networks. Descriptive analysis was performed for demographic variables. Pearson Chi-square test was applied as appropriate. The level of significance was set to 0.05 (two-tailed). Results. 393 HCPs responded for the online survey of which nearly 60% were women. The mean age was 28.11 years with standard deviation of 10.23 years. Nearly half (44%; 174/393) of the respondents felt that COVID-19 vaccine protects them and more men (50%; 80/159) agreed about the protective effect of COVID-19. The univariate analysis yielded that there was significantly higher acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines by men (p=0.006), older respondents (p=0.029) whenever they are made available. Conclusion. The study revealed mixed response regarding acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among health care professionals related to efficacy, safety and side-effects of the vaccines. The results emphasize the need for wider dissemination of national and regional guidelines about vaccination protocols in clinical and community settings.