Socio-Demographic Association with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (Kap) Towards Covid-19 Vaccines: A Young Population Cross Sectional Study in Lebanon

Abstract

Background: Since its first emergence in Wuhan-China in the late 2019 to date, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the biggest public health threat on an international scale. Vaccination remains the first line of defence against the widespread of the virus. Objective: We aim to assess the socio-demographic association with knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards the different COVID-19 vaccines in young Lebanese population. Method: This cross-sectional study conducted in Lebanon between January 24th and 31st 2021. 1350 respondents answered this questionnaire. Questions included four dimensions (11 Socio-demographic characteristics, 22 knowledge questions, 5 attitude questions and 5 related to the practices). One-way ANOVA was used to analyse the differences between the KAP variables with the socio-demographic variables. When significant differences were found (p-value < 0.05), Duncan’s Multiple Range test was applied to determine the significant differences between the means. Results: The average knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines among our participants is 52.88%; 52.81% showed a good attitude towards the different type of vaccines, and 53.98% demonstrated good practices. The socio-demographic variables having a significant influence on the knowledge and practices towards the COVID-19 vaccines were the living place, the educational level, the school in which the students belong to, the type of job (health-related or non-health related job) and the income range. The type of insurance that respondents have was significantly associated with practices but not with knowledge. Conclusion This study showed significant differences in KAP among Lebanese people regarding COVID-19 vaccines, mainly affected by gender, education, work field and income. Our findings reflect fair knowledge, positive attitudes and good practices towards COVID-19 vaccine among the Lebanese population. Consequently, the Ministry of public health must work harder to disseminate, in higher frequency, more accurate information about the vaccines, and organize more vaccination campaigns in order to increase trust in the vaccines efficacy and to decrease the public hesitation.