COVID-19 vaccination: patient uptake and attitudes in a multi-ethnic North London maternity unit.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women has been low, particularly in younger and ethnic minority mothers. We performed a 'snapshot' survey to explore vaccine uptake and factors which influence this, as well as underlying beliefs regarding COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women in a North London hospital. STUDY DESIGN: Pregnant women were invited to complete an anonymised survey, where data were collected on demographics, personal and household vaccination status, and beliefs about the vaccine. Free-text comments were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Two hundred and two women completed the survey, of whom 56.9% (n=115) were unvaccinated and 43.1% (n=87) had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with 35.6% (n=72) having received two doses. Factors associated with acceptance of vaccination included (a) age over 25 years (57.6% vaccinated vs 17.2% under 25 years); (b) Asian ethnicity (69.4% vaccinated vs 41.2% white ethnicity, 27.5% black/Caribbean/African/black-British ethnicity and 12.5% mixed ethnicity) and (c) living in a vaccinated household (63.7% vaccinated vs 9.7% living in an unvaccinated household) (all p<0.001). Vaccine uptake was higher in women who had relied on formal medical advice as their main source of information compared with other sources (59.0% vs 37.5% friends and family, 30.4% news and 21.4% social media). Qualitative data revealed concerns about a lack of information regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Age, ethnicity, household vaccination status and information source influenced vaccination status in our pregnant population. These findings highlight the urgent need to tackle vaccine mistrust and disseminate pregnancy-specific vaccine safety data to pregnant women. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER 5467.