Assessment of awareness about COVID-19 disease and vaccine uptake

To evaluate the awareness of individuals about coronavirus disease-2019 disease and vaccines during the pandemic.

The descriptive, cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted at family health centres in the Bursa province of Turkiye from July 1 to 7, 2021. The face-to-face survey of registered individuals had 20 items that measured coronavirus disease-2019 and vaccines. The scale was named the Coronavirus Disease-2019 and Vaccine Awareness level. It was carried out by family physicians using an online weblink. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.87. Data was analysed using SPSS 25.

Of the 228 subjects, 129(56.6%) were males and 99(43.4%) were females. The overall mean age was 27.82±10.28 years. Awareness levels were high with a mean value of 2.41±0.31. Female participants were more aware than males (p=0.04) and those with monthly income between 2000-10000 Turkish lira had lower awareness level compared to other income groups (p=0.03). Marital status (p=0.32), education level (p=0.49) comorbidities (p=0.23), regular drug usage (p=0.13) and exercise status (p=0.24) did not affect the awareness levels. Non-smokers were more aware than the smokers (p=0.01).

The level of awareness about coronavirus disease-2019 and its vaccine was higher in the female gender and non-smokers, it was lower in the middle-income group.