Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Background: Vaccination presents an important public health strategy to prevent COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality. Recommendations for vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19 has prompted several concerns. Despite several public health strategies to improve vaccination in pregnant population, the vaccine hesitancy remains high. There is dearth of information on the drivers or determinants influencing the vaccination behavior in pregnant individuals.
Objectives: To determine key behaviors and associated determinants influencing vaccine uptake among pregnant population
Methods: Cross sectional survey using an interviewer administered questionnaire was conducted from 1st September 2021 to 30th October 2021 at the largest tertiary care obstetric setting in Qatar. The questionnaire based on relevant literature was contextualized to Qatari setting. It captured perspectives of vaccine acceptance and associated determinants based on the domains and constructs of the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Interviews and related data were collected by two trained obstetric specialists in the antenatal clinics. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, with TDF items subjected to principal components analysis (PCA).
Results: In total, 150 pregnant women participated in the survey. Majority of the respondents were between 25-35 years of age (87 (58%)), multiparous (109 (72.7%)) and in third trimester (100 (66.7%)). The mean percentage (standard deviation) behavioral determinant index for COVID vaccine acceptance was 17.6 ± 30.3 (scale -100 to 100), with an internal consistency of 0.95 indicating high statistical appropriateness. Majority of the participants did not receive COVID-19 vaccine in their current pregnancy (119/150, 79.3%). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy revealed high sampling adequacy (0.89), and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity was highly significant ( < 0.001). The interim analysis revealed, PCA of acceptance items gave five components (C1: Safety of vaccines, C2: Potential benefits of vaccines, C3: Social and societal influence, C4: Lack of knowledge or awareness, C5: Previous experience with vaccines). There was a significant association between the education, previous experience with vaccine, and profession role and vaccine acceptance (p < 0.05)
Conclusions: The vaccine acceptance in pregnancy was low, there was significant association between education, previous vaccination experience and professional role. There is potential for behavior change technique interventions focusing on these issues which could impact vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy as well as other high-risk groups.
