Uptake, Safety and Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccination: A Cross-Sectional Study on First and Second Doses Among the General Public

OBJECTIVE: To investigate public uptake, attitudes and the safety of the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional web-based survey study. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared from a literature search and information about COVID-19 available at various resources. The developed questionnaire was validated for readability by experts and refined in light of the feedback received from the experts and the final version was prepared. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.7 which shows an acceptable level of scale internal consistency. The data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS software (version 25). RESULTS: A total of 513 participants completed the survey, including 311 (60.6%) women and 202 (39.4%) men. The mean age was (31.5±12.8) years. It was found that 493 (96.1%) took the first and second doses of COVID-19 and 376 (73.3%) suffered from side effects, of these 14% (56/376) reported the side effects to the health authorities. The most common side effects were fatigue (51.5%), fever (42.3%), headache (39.5%), and injection site pain (37.6%). Half of the participants (50.5%) had a positive attitude towards COVID-19 preventive measures. Females had higher odds of experiencing side effects than males OR (95% CI); 2.002 (1.312–3.056). Individuals living in urban areas had lower odds of experiencing side effects than those living in rural areas OR (95% CI); 0.364 (0.142–0.933). CONCLUSION: Vaccine uptake was massive and side effects due to the COVID-19 vaccine were common but minor. The majority of the participants had positive attitudes towards recommended COVID-19 preventive measures. Being female and living in rural areas were associated with experiencing side effects.