Knowledge of Covid-19 Prevention and Attitude Towards Vaccination among Health Workers in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, Rivers State

Knowledge of Covid-19 Prevention and Attitude Towards Vaccination among Health Workers in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, Rivers State

ANIECHE, John E.1, COUPLE, Marvellous2, EZEKIEL, Rosemary3, OKONKWO, Oluchukwu G.4
1,4 Department of Nursing Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi, Nigeria
2,3Department of Nursing Science, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51584/IJRIAS.2023.8610
Received: 23 February 2023; Revised: 23 March 2023; Accepted: 29 March 2023; Published: 06 July 2023

Abstract: – This is a descriptive study that assessed the knowledge of COVID-19 vaccine and attitude towards vaccination among health workers in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, Rivers State. The study comprised of 148 health workers in the LGA. Self-structured questionnaire used for data collection was validated and tested for internal consistency using Crombach’s Alpha with reliability index of 0.82. Data for the study was generated through face to face administration of the instrument and analysed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Study revealed that all the health workers in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, Rivers State know that COVID-19 has preventive measures. Majority of them (95.3%) know that there is vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19. All those that know that there is vaccine for COVID-19 know about Astrar Zeneca Vaccine and a good number (63.5%) know about Moderna Spikevax, Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Vaccine but lesser number (25.7%) know about Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Greater number of the health workers (66.0%) knows that the vaccine should be taken from 18 years and above. Majority of the health workers (78.0%) believe that the vaccines are effective in the prevention of COVID-19. Majority of the participants showed a positive attitude towards COVID-19 Vaccination with mean score=2.71; SD=±0.650. Study also revealed that there is a significant relationship between level of knowledge on preventive measures and attitude of health workers towards COVID-19 vaccination (t = 17.23; P < 0.5%). The researchers concluded that continuous health education on COVID-19 and its emergence must have aided the knowledge of these health workers which should be sustained. The study recommends that health workers should be retrained periodically to sustain their knowledge and improve their attitude on the subject matter.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, vaccination, health workers

I. Introduction

The emergence of previously unknown disease usually brings about panic and uncertainty among people especially, if such disease was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO), as deadly with wider spreading ability. This was the case of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 is a deadly disease which continues to affect many countries. This is caused by the new Corona virus strain severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) which has become a serious public health concern worldwide (Pal, et al, 2020)). Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) (WHO, 2021). Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highly transmissible and pathogenic (Hu, et al, 2021).
The WHO (2020) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As at 17th February 2022, the pandemic has affected 223 countries, globally there have been 416,614,051 confirmed cases of covid-19, including 5,844,097 deaths, reported to World Health Organization. As at 15th February 2022, a total of 10,279,668,555 vaccine doses have been administered (WHO, 2022). In Africa, over 4 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, which represented about 3.4 percent of the infections worldwide (Safaddin, 2021).
The incidence is highest in Europe with 168,854, 487 confirmed cases and lowest in Africa with 8,264,588 confirmed cases (WHO, 2022). In Nigeria as at 18th February 2022 there was a total of 254, 137 confirmed cases recorded, 20,524 active cases, 230,472 discharged cases and 3,141 deaths recorded (NCDC, 2022). Rivers state, one of the states in Nigeria, is the fifth most affected state in the country, with over 6,867 confirmed cases and over 90 deaths (NCDC, 2021).

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