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. 2021 Nov 23:15:2609-2618.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S338932. eCollection 2021.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability Among Women Who are Pregnant or Planning for Pregnancy in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mohammed Samannodi  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability Among Women Who are Pregnant or Planning for Pregnancy in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mohammed Samannodi. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Purpose: Few studies in the literature deal with the acceptance of being vaccinated while pregnant. This study aimed to investigate the acceptance rate of the COVID-19 vaccine among pregnant women and those who are planning for pregnancy in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used an online self-administered questionnaire in Saudi Arabia between 12 June and 1 August 2021. The first section described the demographic characteristics of the study participants (five items), participants' perceptions about COVID-19 (three items), participants' hesitancy about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine (nine items), perceived benefits of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine (four items), and motivations and causes of action for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine (three items).

Results: A total of 431 women who met the inclusion criteria were involved in this study. The study participants showed moderate scores in terms of their COVID-19 vaccination perception, hesitancy, perceived benefits and causes of action that ranged between 53.3% and 65.0%. The mean perception score for all participants was 8.0 (standard deviation (SD): 2.8) out of 15. The mean hesitancy score for was 27.6 (SD: 7.3) out of 45. The mean perceived benefits score was 13.0 (SD: 4.5) out of 20. The mean causes of action score was 9.0 (SD: 3.7) out of 15. Pregnant women or those who are planning to be pregnant are more hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccination (p=0.001). Those aged below 29 years who reported receiving the COVID-19 vaccine showed higher levels of perceived benefits (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Pregnant women and those who are planning to be pregnant have a moderate score in terms of their COVID-19 vaccination perception, hesitancy, perceived benefits and causes of action regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. More public health awareness regarding the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine are needed to gain public trust in the vaccination and the healthcare system.

Keywords: COVID-19; Saudi Arabia; coronavirus; pregnant; vaccine; willingness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflicts of interest for this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Perception about the seriousness of COVID-19 situation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reasons for hesitancy from receiving COVID-19 vaccine.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Perceived benefit from receiving COVID-19 vaccine.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Causes of action and motivation to receive COVID-19 vaccine.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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