Attitude toward COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and the bell of new intranasal vaccine is ringing
Date: 21 August 2021
Time: 11:00 AM (Bangladesh time)
Speaker: Dr. Sabir Hussain, PhD Fellow, Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health,
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Abstract
COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to cause morbidity and mortality all around the globe, 204,644,849 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,323,139 deaths, reported to WHO. Vaccination is considered as a key to combat the pandemic and to restore social and economic normality. This study aimed to investigate the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines and their predictors in addition to the attitudes towards these vaccines among the general public in Pakistan. Logistic regression analysis was used to find the predictors of COVID-19 vaccines’ acceptability. A total of 3,100 participants completed the survey. The public acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines was fairly low (37.4%) in Pakistan. Similarly, graduated participants believed that vaccines are generally safe (OR = 9.258, 95CI% = 6.020–14.237, p < .001), However, those above 35 years old (OR = 0.376, 95CI% = 0.233–0.607, p < .001) and employed participants (OR = 0.542, 95CI% = 0.405–0.725, p < .001) were less likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccines. Moreover, participants who believed that there was a conspiracy behind COVID-19 (OR = 0.502, 95CI% = 0.356–0.709, p < .001) and those who do not trust any source of information on COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 0.271, 95CI% = 0.183–0.400, p < .001), were less likely to have acceptance towards them. There are several myths and vaccine hesitancy to reach out the herd immunity. Intramuscular vaccines have been launched in the market, and ministries of health of each country is trying to immunize the maximum population from these vaccines. A new intranasal vaccine has recently successfully completed the trial, and they claim that this can block the transmission and immunization; it may prove as an effective tool for winning the war against COVID-19.
Biography
Dr. Sabir Hussain has completed Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Pakistan. He is accredited as Registered Veterinary Practitioner from Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council. He did his MPhil in the discipline of Epidemiology and Public Health from the Same university. Currently, he is doing PhD in the discipline of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. He has published 7 research articles in various peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, he has presented 12 international conferences papers.