Perception towards COVID-19 vaccine among staff of urban health centres of Gandhinagar municipal corporation

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, an infectious respiratory illness caused by SARS-Cov 2 spread across the world and declared as pandemic in 2019. With the successive trail of COVID vaccine, the attention was turned towards its distribution and uptake. Vaccine hesitancy was greatest threat to the mass vaccination drive, which was major barrier for achieving desired vaccination goal. The main objective is to understand the knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 vaccine among staff of urban health centres of Gandhinagar municipal corporation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 vaccine among staff of four urban health centres using a purposive sampling. Quantitative data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Out of 182 participants, 76 percent have taken COVISHIELD vaccine, 4 percent COVAXIN and 20 percent have not taken any vaccine. Out of these 20 percent; 14 percent denotes vaccine hesitancy due to its doubtful efficacy and fear. Conclusions: The staff of UHCs shown good and adequate knowledge towards COVID vaccines. However, the vaccine hesitancy was found among staff regardless of their education status.