Publication:

A cross sectional survey on COVID-19 vaccination coverage at urban health center of a district in central Gujarat

Background COVID-19 vaccination can lead to herd immunity when a sufficient proportion of population is vaccinated. Effectiveness of vaccination coverage depends on the population’s willingness to be vaccinated completely. Aim and objective was to estimate COVID-19 vaccination coverage and to determine reasons for its acceptance and non-acceptance in urban field practice area of medical college attached with tertiary care hospital.

Methods A cross-sectional house to house survey was conducted among the households (n=1346) under an urban health training centre (UHTC) of a medical college in central Gujarat after the second wave of COVID-19. All the beneficiaries above the age of 18 years residing in the house-holds coming under the field area were included in the study. The data was collected using Epi-collect 5 mobile based applications. Beneficiaries who had taken two doses of COVID-19 vaccine were counted as fully immunized. Vaccination coverage was calculated different for first and second dose. Facilitators and barriers for COVID-19 vaccination were shown with appropriate diagram.

Results Out of the 1832 participants in the survey, vaccination coverage was 78.22% for first dose and 37.23% for second dose. Most common motivation (81%) behind taking vaccination was “good health”. Among the non-users for COVID-19 vaccination, 36.8% did not take the vaccine due to fear of adverse reactions.

Conclusions Vaccination coverage is average in the urban area surveyed. Majority of the population is motivated to take the vaccine to protect themselves from COVID-19. The main reason for not taking vaccine was fear of side-effect of vaccine.