COVID-19 Vaccine Knowledge and Acceptability among Healthcare Providers in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has posed enormous challenges and has become a burden of morbidity and mortality while severely disrupting economic activities around the world. Vaccines for the disease has been discovered; however, there exists misconceptions and mistrusts among health workers which may constitute barriers to Covid-19 uptake. Aim: The study aimed to determine the knowledge and acceptability of the Covid-19 vaccine among health care provider and to determine the association between the socio-demographic variables and Covid-19 acceptability. Study Design: A snowball sampling technique was relied upon in the distribution of the questionnaires. Place and Duration: Online questionnaires sent in the form of a link through social media outlets such as Whatsapp, Facebook and emails within four weeks interval. Methodology: Health care providers in Nigeria aged 18 years and above participated in this study.The analysis was performed using the Statistical Software Package SPSS version 22.0.Four hundred and forty-five respondents filled the questionnaire from the six geopolitical zones of the country. Results: There was a good knowledge of the Covid-19 vaccination as 411(92.4%) knew about the vaccine. However, only 53.5% of respondents were willing to get vaccinated against the disease. The most identified perceived barrier to covid-19 vaccine acceptance was fear of side effects 309 (69.4%) and there was no association between socio-demographic characteristics and covid-19 vaccine acceptability. Conclusion: Healthcare providers recommendation and confidence in a vaccine plays an influential role in their patients’ vaccination behaviour. They serve as an important source of information for the general populace and their consultation can also be a key factor in patients’ decision to get vaccinated or not.