Assessment of attitude and hesitancy towards vaccine against COVID-19 in a Pakistani population: A mix methods survey

Khan, Zainab Aqeel; Allana, Raheel; Afzal, Irrum; Ali, Akbar Shoukat; Mariam, Omama; Aslam, Reema; Shah, Imran Ali; Allana, Asad; Mohsin Haider, M.; Jandani, Rahim; Khan, Zeeshan; Siddiqui, Athar M; Shah, Junaid Ali; Butt, Umer

Objective:The objective of this study was to assess the attitude and hesitancy towards vaccine against COVID-19 in a Pakistani Population. Materials and Methods: A mix-method, prospective study was conducted and adults (aged ≥18 years) residing in Pakistan were invited to participate..The questionnaire was prepared, hosted in Google Forms and circulated through electronic platforms and was also available to be done in in-person. Data was compiled from 15th September to 30thNovember 2020. Results: The response rate was 80%. A total of 1003 participants were included in the final analysis. Of them, 75% completed survey questionnaire online, while remaining 25% responded in-person. The mean age of the participants was 29.62±10.47 years. The majority of participants were females; 60.9% (n=611). 57.02% (n=572) of the participants were employed at the time of survey. Overall, 70.68% (n=709) of the participants had previous experience of vaccines such as the flu vaccine Only 4.9% (n=49) participants thought that they will be seriously ill from COVID-19 within six months and 39% (n=392) participants were confident that they will get COVID-19. A total of 71.29% of the participants reported they would consider getting vaccinated once available. There was statistical association between gender and getting vaccinated (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that majority of the participants showed positive attitude towards considering COVID-19 vaccine. However awareness with informed knowledge of efficacy, possible adverse effects and cost would be of added great value to increase the real response of Pakistani population towards COVID-19 vaccination.