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Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia

Background: The availability and access to COVID-19 vaccinations are critical to a successful pandemic response. More than 70% of the population reportedly needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity worldwide. However, the reluctance to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines...

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Autores principales: Felemban, Ohood, Al-Zahrani, Ahlam, Alsharari, Abdalkarem
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10094212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37046926
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070999
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author Felemban, Ohood
Al-Zahrani, Ahlam
Alsharari, Abdalkarem
author_facet Felemban, Ohood
Al-Zahrani, Ahlam
Alsharari, Abdalkarem
author_sort Felemban, Ohood
collection PubMed
description Background: The availability and access to COVID-19 vaccinations are critical to a successful pandemic response. More than 70% of the population reportedly needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity worldwide. However, the reluctance to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines is holding up the process of vaccination and efforts to control the pandemic and its negative consequences for the global health system, society, and economy. Previous studies have shown low uptake of vaccination in some Middle Eastern countries due to negative attitudes toward vaccination, including concerns about safety and efficacy and doubts about the need for vaccination. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, attitudes, and factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers, academic staff, and students in Saudi Arabia after the vaccine was made widely available by the government. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence, attitudes, and association between demographic factors and uptake of the first or second dose of vaccination among Saudi Arabian health workers and students. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered and distributed through the Qualtrics platform. Results: The study recruited 173 participants from different countries and from different Saudi regions, most of whom were faculty members (n = 83). Results indicated significant differences between regions; the mean attitude score for the Western region (M 3.23) was significantly higher than that for other regions (M 3.08, p = 0.030). There was also an association between education level and number of vaccine doses received. Thus, the participants with higher education were the most compliant with national vaccination requirements (p = 0.004). Although the three professional groups reported social media as the most frequently reported source of information (p = 0.021), administrators were more likely to receive information from the MOH than other professional groups. Similarly, faculty members were more likely to receive information from colleagues and professional journals than the other two professional groups. Conclusions: Government officials should build public confidence through vaccination campaigns and devise effective health education programs to increase vaccination uptake. Authorized institutions can effectively use social media platforms to encourage vaccination and promote awareness among all audiences.
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spelling pubmed-100942122023-04-13 Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia Felemban, Ohood Al-Zahrani, Ahlam Alsharari, Abdalkarem Healthcare (Basel) Article Background: The availability and access to COVID-19 vaccinations are critical to a successful pandemic response. More than 70% of the population reportedly needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity worldwide. However, the reluctance to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines is holding up the process of vaccination and efforts to control the pandemic and its negative consequences for the global health system, society, and economy. Previous studies have shown low uptake of vaccination in some Middle Eastern countries due to negative attitudes toward vaccination, including concerns about safety and efficacy and doubts about the need for vaccination. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, attitudes, and factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers, academic staff, and students in Saudi Arabia after the vaccine was made widely available by the government. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence, attitudes, and association between demographic factors and uptake of the first or second dose of vaccination among Saudi Arabian health workers and students. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered and distributed through the Qualtrics platform. Results: The study recruited 173 participants from different countries and from different Saudi regions, most of whom were faculty members (n = 83). Results indicated significant differences between regions; the mean attitude score for the Western region (M 3.23) was significantly higher than that for other regions (M 3.08, p = 0.030). There was also an association between education level and number of vaccine doses received. Thus, the participants with higher education were the most compliant with national vaccination requirements (p = 0.004). Although the three professional groups reported social media as the most frequently reported source of information (p = 0.021), administrators were more likely to receive information from the MOH than other professional groups. Similarly, faculty members were more likely to receive information from colleagues and professional journals than the other two professional groups. Conclusions: Government officials should build public confidence through vaccination campaigns and devise effective health education programs to increase vaccination uptake. Authorized institutions can effectively use social media platforms to encourage vaccination and promote awareness among all audiences. MDPI 2023-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10094212/ /pubmed/37046926 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070999 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Felemban, Ohood
Al-Zahrani, Ahlam
Alsharari, Abdalkarem
Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title_full Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title_short Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia
title_sort prevalence, attitudes, and factors influencing uptake of the covid-19 vaccine in saudi arabia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10094212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37046926
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070999
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