Knowledge, Attitude, Acceptance, and Perceived Risks of COVID-19 Vaccines among Pregnant Women: Findings and Implications

Introduction: COVID-19 vaccines are essential in reducing symptoms and severity of the disease as well as preventing infection with COVID-19. Vaccination of pregnant women against COVID-19 has been recommended globally. In Zambia, there is a paucity of information on the knowledge, attitude, acceptance, and perceived risks of COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant women. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge, attitude, acceptance, and perceived risks of COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Women and Newborn Hospital (WNH) of the University Teaching Hospitals (UTHs) in Lusaka, Zambia. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from August 2023 to October 2023 among 300 pregnant women attending antenatal care at Women and Newborn Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23.0. The Chi-square test was used to test the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The statistical significance was at a 95% confidence level. Results: Of the 300 participants, 186 (62.0%) were aged between 24 and 34 years and 185 (61.5%) were aware that the COVID-19 vaccine was recommended in pregnancy. Overall, 284 (94.7%) had good knowledge, 258 (86.0%) had a positive attitude, and 186 (62.0%) were vaccinated. Additionally, 20 (17.5%) who were not vaccinated were willing to be vaccinated. Furthermore, most of the participants felt that COVID-19 vaccines were safe to use in pregnancy. The results show a lower vaccine acceptance compared to the knowledge and attitude levels. Having good knowledge and a positive attitude was associated with education status (X^2=33.011, p=0.001 for knowledge level) and (X^2=9.132, p=0.029 for attitude level). Conclusion: This study found that pregnant women attending antenatal care at WNH had good knowledge, positive attitudes, good perceptions, and high acceptance of ..........