Assessment of Willingness to Accept Covid-19 Vaccine And Associated Factors among Adult Residents in Assosa Town Benishangul Gumuz Region Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Vaccines are effective and reliable public health interventions against infectious outbreaks and pandemics. Inadequate information and fear of vaccination side effects were delaying some people from accepting the COVID-19 vaccines, which was hindering efforts to stop the spread of the disease. Therefore, understanding vaccination related behavior is critical in expanding the vaccine coverage to flatten the disease. Objective: - To assess the willingness to accept COVID 19 Vaccine and associated factors among adult residents in Assosa town Benishangul Gumuz Region State, western Ethiopia. Methods: - A community based cross sectional study design triangulated with qualitative study was used in Assosa town from May 01-30 /2022. Data were collected from 629 adult residents using a multistage sampling technique for quantitative study. The collected data was entered into Epi-data 3.1 version and analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 software. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of study participants. The bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to identify the association between independent and dependent variables, and a P-value below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. For the qualitative study, four key informants and eight in-depth interview participants were used purposefully. And the recorded information was transcribed and translated then coded and thematically analyzed manually. Result: - In this study the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine was 58.5%(364) if available in the health facility, and male participants was [AOR =1.57, 95%CI (1.112, 2.217)], those married women [AOR =1.51, 95%CI (1.039, 2.199)], having college degrees and above[AOR= 2.63, 95%CI (1.369, 5.060)], not received vaccine previously [AOR=1.75, 95% CI(1.235, 2.484)], tested for COVID-19 [AOR=1.85, 95% CI(1.079, 2.877)] ,friend diagnosed with COVID-19 [AOR=2.05, 95% CI(1.227, 3.443)], having good knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine [AOR=1.40, 95% CI(1.015,1.955)], and having positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine [AOR=2.15 (1.486, 3.125)] had significant association with acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine. In the qualitative interview most of the participants stated that the vaccine is causing problems for people because there are serious side effects observed after vaccination, such as pain and swelling at the site of vaccination. Conclusion and recommendation: - A considerable proportion of the people have concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine and are unwilling to accept it if it is available in the health II facility. The acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine was significantly associated with male, married women, college degrees and above, previous vaccine history, friend diagnosis, COVID-19 test, knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine. To enhance adult population acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine, evidence-based and tailored information on COVID-19 vaccines should be provided to adult residences to improve knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines acceptance.