Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine A mong Residents of South India: A Cross-sectional Survey

Abstract Background COVID-19 vaccines provide concrete hope of mitigating the spread of the virus and enabling countries worldwide to resume financial and social activities disrupted by the pandemic. Several COVID 19 vaccines have already received approval from regulatory bodies across the world, the vaccine roll out has started and many countries are implementing mass vaccination campaigns. This study aims to evaluate the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines and its predictors, along with the attitudes towards the vaccines among the general population of South India. Materials and Methods This study was conducted as an online survey during December 2020 and January 2021. A Self-administered pre-tested questionnaire was used for the survey. Excel 2019 and SPPS 24 were used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were used, and a Chi-square test was performed. Results A total of 686 people have participated in this study, with a mean age of 30.4 years. 30.9% of study participants have already been infected with COVID-19. 76.2% responded 'yes' for accepting the COVID-19 vaccine, 69% responded to prefer 'routine' administration of the vaccine, and 50.1% were likely to take the COVID-19 vaccine 'as soon as possible' once available. Conclusion Public health authorities and policymakers need to streamline systematic interventions and awareness campaigns to improve the acceptance of COVID 19 vaccines and reduce vaccine hesitancy levels. Vaccination strategy should be targeted at the specific needs and attitudes of the concerned population. Reviving the trust in the vaccination procedures and outcomes and offering transparent information regarding the vaccines' efficacy and safety seem to be particularly importance for the population of our study.