Knowledge Levels of Acceptance and Hesitancy of COVID-19 Vaccine Among General Population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202205.0415.v1
• Publication Date: 2022-06-01T08:30:46Z
• Authors: Adi Essam Zarei; Bayan Sajer; Feda Alharshani; Afrah Alshehri; Lamar Faidah; Wafa Alshehri
• Keywords: medicine_pharmacology_other; 16. Peace & justice; 3. Good health

On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. Vaccination programs have advanced greatly in the global health period, despite widespread anti-vaccination attitudes and misinformation. Vaccine hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccine is currently a major issue in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was carried out from June 25, 2021 to October 2021 in order to investigate the knowledge levels of acceptance and hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccine among Saudi’s nationals. The data was collected through a close-ended structured questionnaire from a total of 565 respondents. Overall, 78.41% respondents were female, 62.48% having university level education and 61.06% were unemployed. Majority of the participants 82.30% (n=465) think that Pfizer vaccine has the highest efficiency against COVID-19. Our study concludes that majority of the participants have satisfactory knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination. Concerns over vaccine components, effectiveness of vaccine and possible side effects are among the key causes for vaccine hesitancy.