Assessment of attitude and hesitancy toward vaccine against COVID-19 in a Pakistani population: A mix methods survey

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the attitude and hesitancy toward vaccine against COVID-19 in a Pakistani Population. Materials and methods A mix-method, prospective study was conducted and adults (aged ≥18 years) residing in Pakistan were invited to participate. The questionnaire was prepared, hosted in Google Forms and circulated through electronic platforms and was also available to be done in in-person. Data was compiled from 15th September to 30th November 2020. Results The response rate was 80%. A total of 1003 participants were included in the final analysis. Of them, 75% completed survey questionnaire online, while remaining 25% responded in-person. The mean age of the participants was 29.62±10.47 years. The majority of participants were females; 60.9% (n=611). 57.02% (n=572) of the participants were employed at the time of survey. Overall, 70.68% (n=709) of the participants had previous experience of vaccines such as the flu vaccine Only 4.9% (n=49) participants thought that they will be seriously ill from COVID-19 within six months and 39% (n=392) participants were confident that they will get COVID-19. A total of 71.29% of the participants reported they would consider getting vaccinated once available. There was statistical association between gender and getting vaccinated (P<0.001). Conclusion This study demonstrated that majority of the participants showed positive attitude toward considering COVID-19 vaccine. However awareness with informed knowledge of efficacy, possible adverse effects and cost would be of added great value to increase the real response of Pakistani population toward COVID-19 vaccination.