Volume 25, Issue 108, February, 2021

Public knowledge and attitudes toward COVID-19 Vaccination: A cross-sectional study

Nehad J Ahmed^1♦, Faisal Z Alkhawaja², Abdulrahman S Alrawili², Ziyad S Almalki¹

¹Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
²College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia; Email: n.ahmed@psau.edu.sa

ABSTRACT

Aim: The objective of this study was to explore the public knowledge and attitudes towards COVID-19 Vaccination in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This was an online, questionnaire-based cross-sectional study included a questionnaire that was prepared using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was disseminated by social media platforms to be filled by the public in January 2021. Results: Most of the respondents were females (78.00%) and the age of the majority of them was less than 25 years old. Most of the respondents were aware of COVID-19 symptoms (94%), Aware of COVID-19 severity (91%), Aware of COVID-19 risk and negative outcomes (70%) and aware of vaccination necessity (68%). Only 37 % of them agreed that COVID-19 vaccination is effective and only 32% of them agreed that the vaccine is safe. Conclusion: The study showed that there was a good acceptability of the public of COVID-19 vaccination but the respondents are worried about the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Efforts to address these concerns and to improve vaccine usage are required. Additionally, targeted educational interventions are needed to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake of the future.

Keywords: Attitudes, COVID-19, knowledge, SARS-CoV-2, vaccine

Medical Science, 2021, 25(108), 279-284

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