A Study of Perception and Acceptance of COVID 19 Vaccination by Pregnant Women in a Tertiary Health Centre in Delhi, India

Abstract

The pandemic has led to a major change of focus in the healthcare system. The pandemic that started in December 2019 in Wuhan rapidly became a global health crisis. Pregnant women fall under the high risk category and the infection endangers two lives. Vaccination appeared as the only hope at the peak of pandemic. Materials and Methods: 650 pregnant women at a tertiary care centre in New Delhi were interviewed objectively irrespective of gestational age and educational status. Results and Discussion: 383 women(58.9%) pregnant women were willing to get the vaccine. 267 (41.1%) were not willing to the get the vaccine. 91.5 % women were aware that covid-19 vaccine is available for pregnant women. 90.3% women knew that covid 19 infection can be dangerous for pregnant women. Only 75.7 % women thought covid 19 infection can be dangerous for new born and children. Women who were aware that the infection can be dangerous for pregnant women and newborn were more willing to get the vaccine compared to women who were not aware. Women who thought the vaccine could be harmful for the fetus were reluctant to get the vaccine. Conclusion: Increasing awareness and knowledge in the pregnant population would lead to better vaccine acceptability. Vaccination status among pregnant population is still poor and with better awareness drives we can improve the vaccination statistics. The results can be extrapolated for other health drives and health seeking behavior development.