Acceptance for coronavirus disease 19 vaccines among pregnant women seeking antenatal care in tertiary care hospital

Abstract

: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID -19) is caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-COV-2). In the absence of an effective treatment, vaccination becomes the main modality to control the incidence of infectious diseases. Hence, there is a need to estimate the attitudes and willingness among pregnant women for COVID 19 Vaccine.To estimate the frequency of COVID 19 Vaccine acceptance and non acceptance in pregnant women attending antenatal OPD. To describe the factors associated with non acceptance of COVID 19 Vaccine in pregnant women attending antenatal OPDThis is an observational cross-sectional study where 500 pregnant women attending antenatal care were counseled about the COVID-19 vaccine. Women who refused the vaccine were asked about the reasons for refusal and the same was noted. 95.6% accepted the vaccine and 4.4% did not accept. Majority belonged to 21 to 25 years(45% acceptors and 72% non acceptors), were second gravidas (38.7% acceptors and 54.5% non acceptors) and were between 25 to 36 weeks gestation(52.7% acceptors and 50% non acceptors). 13.8% of acceptors and 4.5% of non acceptors had previous history of abortions. Commonest concern was fear of vaccine related complications and fear of harming the fetus. Vaccine reactions followed by fear of harming the baby were the commonest reasons for non acceptance. Vaccine acceptance was high in this study (95.6%). Vaccine induced reactions followed by fear of harming the baby were the commonest reasons for non acceptance.