COVID-19 vaccination intention and hesitancy: Mistrust on COVID-19 vaccine benefit a major driver for vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study in North India.

Background: The advent of an effective novel COVID-19 vaccine could extinguish the current devastating pandemic but the vaccine hesitancy is a hurdle for the public health system. Objective: This study estimated the COVID-19 vaccination intention and the determinants among the healthcare workers, the priority target group for the COVID-19 vaccine in India. Design: A web-based cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. Setting and participants: The study was conducted among the healthcare workers in Chandigarh, a union territory in North India, using a Snowball sampling technique. A total of 403 healthcare workers participated in the study between 2nd and 25th January 2021. Methods: The primary data collected were the intention to get vaccinated against the available COVID-19 vaccine and the concerns regarding the new vaccines. The attitude towards the novel COVID-19 vaccine was assessed using the developed Vaccine attitude examination scale. These questionnaires, which were delivered via WhatsApp, was filled by the participants over Google forms. Results: Among the 403 respondents surveyed, the majority (54.6%) reported they were definitely intended to get vaccinated against COVID-19, however, 7% expressed a resistance for inoculation with COVID-19 vaccination. The perceived susceptibility (aOR=0.511, CI 0.265-0.987) and severity of COVID-19 infection (aOR=0.551 CI 0.196-0.704) and not being concerned about the efficacy of new COVID-19 vaccines (aOR= 0.702 CI 1.109-26.55) were found to have the highest significant odds of intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The majority (62%) were concerned about the safety of the vaccine, in terms of side-effects, quality control, and doubted efficacy of the vaccine. The mistrust of the benefits of the vaccine is a significant predictor for vaccine hesitancy among the healthcare workers (aOR=5.205 CI 3.106-8.723). Conclusion: Therefore, strategic communication and vaccine-acceptance programs should be formulated in order to combat the prevailing mistrust on the vaccine safety and efficacy and attain effective coverage to gain herd immunity