Cargando…

Community Perception and Attitude towards COVID-19 Vaccination for Children in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Vaccines are an important part of the COVID-19 pandemic response plan. This study was undertaken to find out the percentage of supporters in the Saudi population for COVID-19 vaccination among children, and to assess the study population’s perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccination among...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Alalmaei Asiri, Waddah M., Shati, Ayed A., Mahmood, Syed E., Al-Qahtani, Saleh M., Alqahtani, Youssef A., Alhussain, Raghad M., Alshehri, Noura A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9966894/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36851128
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11020250
Descripción
Sumario:Introduction: Vaccines are an important part of the COVID-19 pandemic response plan. This study was undertaken to find out the percentage of supporters in the Saudi population for COVID-19 vaccination among children, and to assess the study population’s perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccination among children. Material and Methods: This nationwide study adopted a cross-sectional survey of adult participants, conducted by trained medical students. The anonymous questionnaire was published on social media tools. Statistical analysis was conducted using two-tailed tests. Results: Six hundred and twenty (620) participants were recruited for this study. Nearly 17.0% of participants had a chronic health problem/comorbidity. About 28.7% of the study participants reported having COVID-19 infection. The COVID-19 vaccine was received among 94.7% of the study respondents. The majority of the vaccination supporters (89.0%) wanted to get the third dose. There was a statistically significant association between the participant’s attitudes towards getting vaccinated themselves, and their attitude towards children’s vaccination. Vaccine newness, as a reason for hesitating to get vaccinated, was most reported among non-vaccine supporters. False religious beliefs were found to significantly influence the opposing attitude towards children’s vaccination. Conclusion: Health professionals and policy makers should implement and support strategies to ensure children are vaccinated against COVID-19. They also need to educate parents and families regarding the importance of vaccination against COVID-19.