Abstract
Background: In the past few years, knowledge of COVID-19, its management, patients' care, and its learning curve have been challenging for the professionals in charge of managing the pandemic. Since community pharmacists were the important health care providers who remained the first point of contact during the pandemic, they played a pivotal role in providing counselling services, care, support, and infection control to the public. COVID-19 vaccine remained an important public health measure in curbing COVID-19. Despite its effectiveness in preventing the spread of the disease, a large proportion of the population is unwilling to be vaccinated owing to the lack of adequate knowledge regarding its effectiveness. Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the perception, attitude, and knowledge of community pharmacists regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using questionnaires to collect data from the community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire is comprised of four sections: socio-demographic, knowledge, attitude, and practices. Results: Most of the respondents were young adults between the ages of 23 and 34 years (73.0%). The study had more male participants (89.4%) than female participants (10.6%). Most of the male respondents were non-Saudi nationals (77.9%). The overall percentage of positive responses to the perception questions was 29.9%. The overall percentage of positive responses to the attitude questions was 21.2%. The overall percentage of positive responses to the knowledge questions was 57.4%. No significant difference is recorded between the respondents' intention on taking the vaccine and the age groups (χ<sup>2</sup> (9) = 7.134, p > 0.05 = 0.623). However, the remaining characteristics of the test showed significant differences. Conclusion: The findings confirmed that the level of knowledge regarding the COVID-19 vaccine amongst the community pharmacists was high enough to offer reliable advice to patients. However, less than 50% of the participants had adequate knowledge of the vaccine.
Highlights
Over the past year, the knowledge and attitude towards management of COVID-19 and patients’ care have been challenging for healthcare professionals owing to social distancing and other preventive measures put in place during the pandemic [1]
The present study aimed to explore the knowledge, perception, and attitude of pharmacists about the COVID-19 vaccine in Saudia Arabia
The results show that the sampled community pharmacists are most influenced by the decision of the technicians (22%) to take the vaccine doses (Table 5)
Summary
The knowledge and attitude towards management of COVID-19 and patients’ care have been challenging for healthcare professionals owing to social distancing and other preventive measures put in place during the pandemic [1]. In the past few years, knowledge of COVID-19, its management, patients’ care, and its learning curve have been challenging for the professionals in charge of managing the pandemic. Since community pharmacists were the important health care providers who remained the first point of contact during the pandemic, they played a pivotal role in providing counselling services, care, support, and infection control to the public. Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the perception, attitude, and knowledge of community pharmacists regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Less than 50% of the participants had adequate knowledge of the vaccine
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