Misconceptions, Hesitancy and Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination in Dental Surgeons Working in A Teaching Dental Hospital, Peshawar

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess misconceptions, hesitancy and efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccine among Faculty, House Officers (HO) and Postgraduates (PG) dental trainees towards the novel COVID-19 vaccine and to assess the association between COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and conspiracy beliefs. A cross sectional study was conducted on 150 participants from Sardar Begum Dental hospital, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A self-administered questionnaire was developed with questions related to perception of participants regarding misconceptions, safety, hesitancy and efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination. The questionnaire comprised of 26 closed-ended questions. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical package 26.0. More than half of the participants (87.3%) reported to be tested positive for COVID-19 at some point. Majority of participants (87.3%) reported that they were vaccinated and 86.7% reported that they had post-vaccination reactions such as pain in arm, fever and body aches. A notable number of participants that were part of the study believed in the misconceptions related to the COVID-19 vaccine. This study concluded that despite widespread vaccination awareness campaigns, significant number of dental surgeons believed in misconceptions regarding COVID-19 vaccination that may pose a significant challenge to Pakistan's COVID-19 immunization program.