Publication:

Effectiveness of a community-based awareness session on vaccine knowledge, attitudes and improving dissemination in rural India

Background One of the most significant barriers to increasing global immunization rate is Vaccine hesitancy (VH). This disparity is underreported in rural India where several misconceptions still persist. The aim of this study was to understand the effectiveness of a community-based intervention on improving the knowledge and attitude amongst people in rural India.

Methods This was a community based pre- and post- interventional study conducted amongst 158 participants. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire assessing the demographic detail, obstetric and birth history, pre- and post- questionnaire and an open-ended feedback form assessing the effectiveness of the intervention. Paired t-test was used to assess significance between the pre- and post-intervention mean scores and logistic regression was used to identify predictors of willingness to promote vaccine-related information.

Results The mean pre-intervention score was 11.33±3.11, which increased to 12.92±1.95 post-seminar (p<0.001). A total of 85.4% of participants were willing to disseminate the information they learned through the seminar. Logistic regression revealed that participants who did not associate vaccination with religion were significantly more likely to support dissemination (p<0.001).

Conclusions This intervention significantly improved the knowledge score post-intervention and also addressed the common misconceptions regarding hesitancy. Religious beliefs were found to be a key component of hesitancy. Future public health strategies must prioritize such educational interventions to combat vaccine hesitancy.