Cognizance, adverse effects and motivation regarding COVID-19 vaccination amongst health care professionals: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are currently at the forefront of India's fight against the pandemic. They have been shown to prevent the disease or reduce its severity, following 2 doses given at an interval of 6-8 weeks. OBJECTIVES: The present cross-sectional survey was carried out on 1,145 health care practitioners in order to recognize and evaluate the adverse effects of vaccination as well as knowledge, motivation and attitudes with regard to vaccines amongst the respondents after the 1st dose of vaccination. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An anonymous survey was carried out among different age and gender groups in the medical colleges situated in the state of Maharashtra, India. The participants' responses were collected with the use of the Google Forms platform through sending a URL link to the questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was pilot-tested and the obtained Cronbach's alpha value was 0.80. Amongst the 1,145 participants, 92.2% of the respondents received COVISHIELD™ and 7.8% received COVAXIN®. The subjects were further scrutinized in 4 different age groups18-27 years (73.0%); 28-37 years (14.8%); 38-47 years (9.6%); and above 47 years (2.5%). RESULTS: Adverse effects were common in the age group of 18-27 years and were observed significantly more frequently in females than males. A very common symptom was pain at the site of injection with an occurrence of 85.2%. Fever was present in 62.6% of the respondents, with 39.1% having low-grade fever and very few having high-grade fever. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about adverse effects and what to expect after vaccination would help to educate people, dispel misinformation and reduce vaccination hesitancy. It can also help to promote awareness about the incidence of adverse effects and the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.