Awareness, perceptions, and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine among 18-44 years old adults in India: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines currently represent an effective and the only effective weapon to effectively combat the Pandemic. Thus, it is especially important to judge the awareness and perception of general population about the study. With this aim, the study was conducted at a vaccination centre among registered adults aged 18-44 years getting the first dose of vaccination to assess knowledge, perceptions about COVID 19 vaccine.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 15 June 21 to 25 June 21 among 612 adults aged 18-44 years adults registered for the first dose of vaccination (COVISHIELD Vaccine) at the vaccination centre of tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra.Results: A total of 612 study participants aged 18-44 participated. On assessing awareness, perceptions, attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine, most of them liked to prefer COVISHIELD (83.7%) over COVAXIN (12.3%). More than one-third liked to have a second dose at 4–6-week interval, with a similar number favouring 6–8-week interval. On assessing the KAP score mean KAP score (±SD) was 18±4.5 out of 35.Conclusions: This study highlights that overall awareness and perceptions of the study population was good. However, there was inadequate knowledge about certain key aspects of COVID-19 vaccination like contra-indications, duration after which protection starts after inoculation. The findings suggest immediate health education programs, risk communication, should be done effectively to curb, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.