Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude & Perception towards COVID-19 Vaccine among the rural and urban population of Navi Mumbai: An Alarming Scenario

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception towards COVID-19 vaccination among rural and urban areas. To study and analyze any socio-demographic barriers and economic factors affecting the immunization program. Methodology: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between the urban and rural populations with the help of pre-designed and pre-structured questionnaires. Data were collected from 205 subjects from the urban population with the help of Google form and 242 subjects from the rural population through an interview. Results: 97.1% of the urban population were aware of the Arogya Setu app of which 80% were using it while 87.6% of the rural population were not aware of the Arogya Setu app. 60.3% of the rural population had the perception that the Covid-19 vaccine can be eradicated without the vaccine whereas 77.1% of the urban population had the opposite perception. Conclusion: Most of the urban population had good knowledge about the Covid 19 vaccine with a positive attitude of accepting the vaccine as the most important preventive measure of prevention and control of the Covid 19 pandemic as compared to the rural population.