Perception and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination: A preliminary online survey from India

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly become a global pandemic taking more than 1.7 million lives. While many developed countries are starting their vaccination drive, India is not far behind but still not much is known about the willingness to get a vaccination in India.

To find out the perception and attitude toward vaccination against COVID-19 among the adult population of India in order to know the proportion of people who are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 26, 2020 and November 10, 2020. Data were collected online using a self-administered and semi-structured questionnaire among adults aged 18 years or more in India via web-based links. The minimum sample size was calculated by considering the proportion of willingness to take the vaccination as 50%, 95% confidence interval, and 5% alpha error-the calculated sample size was 384. However, 467 participants completed the survey during the study period. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.

A total of 467 participants responded, out of which 329 (70.44%) showed a willingness to get vaccinated and 138 (29.55%) were hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Only 49.4% believed that people can be protected by the vaccine; 63.1% of the people were willing to get their children vaccinated; and 59.31% felt the vaccine should be free for all.

The pan India survey conducted online revealed that approximately 3 in 10 adults were not willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This can guide policymakers to make multipronged efforts to increase the willingness to get a vaccination against COVID-19.