INVESTIGATIVE STUDY ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF ADULT TOWARDS VACCINATION AGAINST COVID 19 DISEASE IN ADEGBOLA COMMUNITY.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. However, some will become seriously ill and require medical attention. Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age (WHO, 2020). The novel coronavirus also referred to as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a severe respiratory disease known as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020, Shrikrushna et al., 2020).COVID-19 was first reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 31st December 2019 and announced as a global pandemic on 11th March 2020 (WHO, 2020). 

The contagious virus began its ravaging effect from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and then around the world except Antarctica. The surge of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China led to the closure of public places, halting of public transportation, isolation and management of infected persons, all in a bid to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (Roy et al., 2020). The clinical presentation of COVID-19 symptoms include fever, fatigue, dry cough, malaise and breathing difficulty (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020) So far, the disease is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates alongside other ailments. The shutting down of social activities throughout the world to mitigate the spread of the pandemic has led to a global lockdown, causing a downturn and global economic fall due to a break in the global supply chain (Ebrahim et al., 2020). Humanity has been confronted with one form of pandemic or the other, dating back to the Black Death pandemic (1347–1351) which killed over 200million people (WHO, 2020) to the current Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 has so far infected over 180 million people and killed more than four (4) million victims globally as at July, 2021 (WHO, 2020). Ghana’s experience of pandemics has been particularly terrible from the Russian Flu of 1889–1891 to the Spanish Flu of 1918–1919 when an estimated 60,000 people died (WHO, 2020). In Ghana, COVID-19 has infected over y 100,000 people and killed over 800 deaths as at July, 2021 (Ghana Health Service,2021).

Vaccines are considered as means of protection. Thus, COVID-19 vaccines have been introduced as a means to curtail transmission for the world to transit into post-COVID-19. However, this has been met with hesitancy, fear and safety concerns coupled with anti-vaccine conspiracy theories which significantly compromise acceptance and willingness to accept the vaccine. Lack of adequate information on the principles behind vaccine development from phases one, two and three trials which take into account, immunogenicity, safety and efficacy issues, by the average citizen partly account for the high level of fear, anxiety and uncertainty associated with the vaccine acceptance and uptake. Vaccination is often considered one of the most efficient means of preventing disease and is often a cost-effective tool for improving health at the population level (Bloom, 2011). Population-level immunity against infectious diseases is important because the likelihood of the spread of the disease in the population is reduced, as many potential hosts for the pathogen that causes the disease are immune (Randolph et al., 2020). This population-level immunity to an infectious disease (commonly known as herd immunity) can occur either through vaccination or natural immunity developed from prior infection. The WHO recommends achieving herd immunity through vaccination instead of exposing the population to an infectious disease, as the latter runs the risk of causing unnecessary infections and deaths. In order to achieve herd immunity through vaccination, a substantial proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated before infection rates start declining (WHO, 2020).

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a deadly disease which continues to affect many countries in the world. This is caused by the new coronavirus strain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which has become a serious public health concern worldwide (Pal et al., 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 (Cucinotta et al., 2020) At the time of writing (6 February 2021), this pandemic has affected 223 countries, with over 104.37 million confirmed cases and 22.71 million deaths recorded globally (WHO, 2021). The incidence was higher in the Americas (46,313,540 cases and 1,072,244 deaths) and Europe (35,003,091 cases and 767,235 deaths) than in South East Asia (12,982,540 cases and 199,668 deaths), Africa (2,616,892 cases and 64,473 deaths) and the Western Pacific (1,466,248 cases and 25,526 deaths) (WHO, 2021). Elderly people above the age of 60 and those above 50 years who have chronic diseases are also prioritized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. The launch of the vaccine program was attended by the WHO country representative Boueri Hama Sambo, who urged "communities and community leaders to build trust" as well as "demand for the vaccine" and to "promptly address "misinformation” (Africanews, 2021). 

During that event, one health worker was not convinced, saying "I don't believe in this vaccine. The virus is a sign of God’s wrath upon us, so I prefer to pray”. Negative attitudes and mistrust towards COVID-19 vaccines are major barriers to increasing vaccine coverage worldwide (Paul et al., 2021). Like many health interventions. vaccinations generally come with risks and benefits which need to be acknowledged and duly communicated to potential beneficiaries of these interventions. As part of efforts to promote safety and reduce risks, vaccines undergo rigorous stages (phases 1, 2 and 3) of development, where data safety monitoring boards (DSMBs) play a critical role to guaranteeing patient safety. With particular reference to the COVID-19 vaccines, available literature shows the vaccines reduce morbidity and mortalities in countries with high acceptability rate such as United States of America (Malik et al., 2020, Kuter et al.,2021). China, Kuwait, Democratic Republic of Congo and some African countries (Afolabi et al., 2021). Nonetheless, fear, anxiety, misinformation, conspiracy theories, lack of trust and confidence in vaccines and government institutions have the potential to impede successful rollout and uptake of the vaccine in many countries across the globe. Consequently, it is important to investigate and understand the socio-economic factors that predict vaccine hesitancy among adult populations in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Ghana.

Nigeria has experienced the highest COVID-19 burden of any country in Africa to date, with 163,498 cases and 2058 deaths (WHO,2021). Universities have certain characteristics that can increase the risk of COVID-19 spread throughout campuses, such as a large population, high population density, and regular interactions between students. This risky combination calls for protective measures to curb the spread of the virus on campuses. Protective measures are essential in pandemic management (Bish, 2010) and vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective COVID-19 protective measures (Lurie et al., 2020, Yang, 2003) Several prophylactic vaccines against COVID-19 have already been developed in various countries, including vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Pfizer–BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). These vaccines have been distributed to various countries. In Nigeria, however, only the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been rolled out for public use. With this vaccination underway, it is critical to investigate the acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine, particularly given people’s varying perception of vaccines worldwide. Moreover, the best vaccine would be ineffective if it is not used. Although little progress has been made in vaccination among the general public in Nigeria, there are still important challenges about complete immunization against COVID-19 in universities, one of which is the uncertainty about the students’ acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination amidst the many fake news and conflicting information on social media that could deter acceptance (Adetayo, 2021).

Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV2 Virus. Most people infected with this virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness (WHO, 2020). The Covid_19 pandemic has claimed the lives of many people. Yet some people have not believed that Covid_19 is existing. The covid_19 vaccine has been what an individual needs to be encouraged in order to received it due to the misconception various wrong information gathered from social media, friends and also from the members of the family. Some reject this vaccine due to religious believe, many believe that Covid_19 vaccines were produced mainly to lower the population of the whole universe. The reason why there is low turnout rate of people to receive covid_19 vaccine could it be as a result of wrong perception, lack of knowledge about covid_19. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitude of individual towards vaccination against Covid_19 disease around us, in the country and other places.

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude of individual towards vaccination against Covid_19 disease. 

The objectives of this study are to;

Investigate the knowledge of people towards Covid_19 vaccine in Adegbola community

To examine their attitudes towards Covid_19 vaccine in the study area

Identify why most people do not accept Covid_19 vaccine in the study area

This study will help to increase the acceptance of Covid_19 vaccine. It will also help to correct the wrong perceptions of people towards Covid_19. This study will also help to reduce the mortality and morbidity rate due to Covid_19 Through acceptance of covid_19 vaccines. It will also help to lower the rate of Covid_19 transmission. This study will also serve as a base line knowledge for other researchers that will like to work on this topic.

Some people assume that Covid_19 was propaganded by some Countries in the world to lower the population of the whole world.

Some people believed that Covid_19 is not real just a mere scam especially in Africa

Some people believed that Covid_19 cannot be prevented by vaccine

Some people assumed that their immunity is strong enough to hinders them from contracting Covid_19.

DEFINITION OF TERMS.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD): is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels.

Contagious: means able to be caught by touching someone with the disease or something the person has touched or worn, or (of a person) having this type of disease:

Diabetes: is a disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood.

Disease: is a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.

Immunity: is the ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or toxin by the action of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells.

Immunogenicity: is the ability of a foreign substance, such as an antigen, to provoke an immune response in the body of a human or other animal.

Metabolism: is the way that chemical processes in your body cause food to be used in an efficient way, for example to make new cells and to give you energy.

Propaganda: Is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

Vaccination is a simple, safe, and effective way of protecting people against harmful diseases, before they come into contact with them.

Vaccine is a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease.

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