Abstract
Background
The public is hesitant about getting vaccinated for COVID-19, and a few people are still avoiding it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination among rural and urban populations of the Dehradun district in Uttarakhand, India.
Materials and methods
A cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to June 2021 in selected urban and rural areas of the Dehradun district, yielding 770 responses (385 from both rural and urban areas). The attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination were collected via questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results
There were no rural-urban differences in the mean score of attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination (49.22±12.89 vs 50.01 ±11.88; P=0.379). The majority of participants had a neutral to positive attitude, and very few had a negative attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination, equally in the rural and urban population. A significant positive association was found between attitude scores with COVID-19 vaccination and mortality among participant’s relatives and friends in rural areas, while participant occupation and number of family members in the urban area were associated with a more positive attitude.
Conclusion
These results suggest mainly neutral attitude among the rural and urban populations towards COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, it is important to design and implement innovative and efficient communication strategies to influence the neutral and offset the negative attitudes regarding vaccination drive to facilitate immunisation outreach and coverage.