A Questionnaire Based Study to Assess Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, and Concerns Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination Among Educated Group of Population

Abstract

There seems to be reluctance among people in accepting the COVID19 vaccine all over the world, because of associated myths and/or misinformation. The purpose of this study is to interpret vaccine acceptance and/or reluctance by assessing the knowledge, attitude, practices, and concerns regarding the COVID vaccine, among an educated group of the population, the faculty members of Almustaqbal University College. In our survey, we've adapted the final version of the attitude, knowledge, practices, and concerns (KAPC) questionnaire which includes 39 items (Box 1). A crosssectional design was used, and data was collected within the first 2 weeks of August 2021 through an online survey. A total of 114 responses were collected from faculty members of various departments of the college. The participants were mainly females (63.7%) and (75.9%) were between 18-40 years of age. 36.3% of our sample have not been vaccinated yet, while 63.7% have been involved in the vaccination program. We assess the influence of some factors on the decision to take vaccine like the ministry of health information, discussion with family and friends, doctors and health workers, and social media. We ask the respondents to report the possible concerns about the vaccine e.g., the rapid development and approvement of the vaccine, possible immediate or late serious side effects, commercial investment of the pandemic. etc. Possible conclusion of our study, the questionnaire used is a good and easy tool of this issue during the time of pandemic and in fact, the results give the health and government authorities a valuable idea to put their plans to disseminate the true information and combat misinformation and rumors through channels that are trusted by people.