COVID-19 Vaccine-Acceptancy among Health Care Workers and General Community in a Southern City of India: Pre- and Post-arrival of Vaccines

Context: By December of 2021, 80% of the eligible Indian population had received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine. However, this phase of vaccination was hindered with the very prevalent vaccine hesitancy and, in its absence, India would have reached this mark of coverage much earlier. Vaccine skepticism is still present, especially around vaccination of children and it may further delay coverage in our next phase of vaccination. Methods and Material: A total of 680 healthcare workers (HCWs) and 1,308 General public (the community) were interacted with in a South Indian city between the months of December 2020 and February 2021. An online-platform based survey was conducted where vaccine acceptancy levels were studied among them before and after vaccine roll out in the country. The reasons for acceptance as well as hesitancy were surveyed. Simultaneously, vaccine awareness activity was conducted. Results: The overall vaccine acceptance among the HCWs was reflected to be 68.5% & in the community it was found to be 60.4% at the time of vaccine rollout. Nearly half, i.e., 51.6% of the HCWs and 50.58% in the community, expressed the reason for hesitancy as the fear of side effects. Conclusions: Carrying out Mass-vaccination activities without adequately assessing the acceptancy levels among its beneficiaries and taking measures to allay the reasons for hesitancy will lead to delayed coverage and an ineffective vaccination drive which is an ultimate failure of purpose. Need of the hour is an effective communication & health education measure that would address all the concerns related to COVID-19 vaccine