ANNOUNCEMENTS
Universal vaccination is the key to achieve herd immunity against any disease. The study was done in slums areas of Rishikesh with people aged 18 years and above who have not received any doses of covid-19 vaccination to understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, perceptions and knowledge. A structured questionnaire was prepared that covered questions on socio demographic details, knowledge and beliefs, perceptions and attitude towards covid and covid vaccine. The participants were interviewed face to face and through phone calls. Verbal consent was taken before the interviews. 120 telephonic interviews were conducted. 72.5% of the participants said that the covid vaccine is lifelong effective and 79.2% agreed that the vaccine can control the disease. 42.5% agreed that they “probably” would take the vaccine in future and more that 19% said they would “defiantly not” take the vaccine. Concerns regarding the vaccine side effects (32.8%) and not having time (31%) and were most reported reasons for not taking vaccination. 25.2% participants stated that “Doctor/healthcare worker advised not to take vaccine due to pre-existing co-morbidity (illness)”. 4.2% participants stated that vaccines are not safe. 5.9% respondent stated that covid vaccine are not effective and 12.6% stated that covid was not a dangerous. 16.1% participants stated that cavid-19 vaccine can cause covid. 39.2% respondents “disagreed” and 30.8% “strongly disagreed” on being worried of likelihood of getting infected from covid-19. These findings may be helpful in strategizing interventions to resolve the concerns and reservation that people have towards covid-19 vaccine and reach universal vaccination.
Key words- India, covid-19 vaccine, hesitancy, attitude, perception, beliefs, knowledge.
