Attitudes toward COVID-19 Vaccination: Cross-sectional Study in Anbar Province, Iraq

Abstract

Abstract Background: On March 2020, the World Health Organization announced that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. In Iraq, since the start of applying the national COVID-19 vaccine campaign, many people refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine for various reasons, which has led to the further spread of the disease and the pandemic. Objectives: To determine some factors for refusing COVID-19 vaccination and the beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine among Iraqi people in Anbar Province, Iraq. Subjects and Methods: A household-based cross-sectional study and a face-to-face interview were done on 814 participants who were involved in the survey. A convenient sample approach was followed in this study to recruit participants from 11 different areas in the entral, southern, and northern of Anbar Province, Iraq, including urban and rural regions. A questionnaire form was applied to participants enrolled in the study, and the principal researcher carried out a written interview by face-to-face with the participant. An analysis of data carried out using cross-tabulated chi square test to identify variables associated with vaccine acceptance, in addition to descriptive statistics. Results: A majority (71.7%) of the population did not take any type of COVID-19 vaccine; among those who took the COVID-19 vaccine, 58.4% took only one dose of vaccination. Among people who did not take any type of vaccine, a high percentage of 72.1% said that they did not trust it. Others (14.3%) did not take it because their friends and relatives did not take it. A significant difference (P = 0.001) was found regarding the characteristics of those who took the vaccine and those who did not take it, including age, gender, occupation, place of residence, education level, and having had COVID-19. Conclusion: A high prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine refusal was found in places in Anbar Governorate based on rumors, media communication, and behavioral attitudes needs many efforts from health workers in primary health-care centers and other health staff in other health institutions to increase people’s knowledge about the vaccine to lessen COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.