Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine in the University of Port Harcourt Community

Background: Vaccine acceptance is one thing that must be achieved before the masses can volunteer to be vaccinated. Vaccine acceptance is defined as the individual or group's decision to accept or refuse when presented with an opportunity to vaccinate. Acceptance can be active (adherence by an informed public that perceives the benefit of and needs for a vaccine) or passive (compliance by a public that defers to recommendations and social pressure). It will not be out of place to state that the University of Port Harcourt will not be spared in the distribution of the cases as such if no drastic action for vaccination is taken. Therefore, vaccine acceptance is essential. Hence, this study was done to survey the acceptance of the covid-19 vaccine amongst the lecturers and teachers in the University community.

Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional carried out at the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State. The study population was the public tertiary institutions in Rivers State which comprised only the teaching staff. The sample size used for the study was four hundred and sixty persons calculated using the Taro Yamane formula for a population less than ten thousand; the sampling technique used was simple random sampling. The data collection tool used for the study was a self-structured closed-ended questionnaire.

Results and Discussions: The results of the study showed that the acceptance rate of COVID 19 vaccine by the UPWA staff members was 7.4%, UNIPORT lecturers was 8.7%, and UDSS staff members were 9.1%. The UDSS staff members had the highest level of acceptance. The total acceptance rate for COVID 19 vaccine in this population was 25.2%. The difference in the proportion is statistically significant at p<0.001.

Conclusions: The comparison of the variables showed that age category, occupation, sex, marital status, educational level, and insurance were all statistically significant (p=0.001) with the acceptance COVID 19 vaccine by UPWA staff, UNIPORT staff members and UDSS staff. The result showed that about a quarter of the sampled population was willing to take the vaccine. This study recommends the intensification of a campaign that is geared towards enhancing COVID 19 vaccine acceptance and uptake.