Awareness of COVID-19 and its Vaccine Acceptability among Young Adult Population of Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria

Download PDF

There have been controversies hovering around Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although this disease has claimed lives, the effort is on top gear to stop or prevent the consequences of this virus infection by producing a potent antidote in the form of a vaccine. Many vaccines have been produced and distributed worldwide, yet, the awareness and willingness to accept the vaccine has become a great challenge in many countries, including Nigeria. However, this study evaluates the knowledge, awareness of COVID-19 and willingness to accept the vaccine among the young adult population of Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria.

A descriptive, cross-sectional, and multistage sampling technique was adopted in this study. The questionnaire was administered to 184 consented participants who were within the targeted age range. Data obtained were subjected to inferential statistics using the chi-square test, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

106 female and 78 male respondents were interviewed. 78.3% of the female population showed that COVID-19 and its vaccine exist, 17% and 19.2% of respective gender neither convey that it exists or not. The respondents (male and female) agree that there is a vaccine, and 85.8% of the females and 85.9% of the males were not eager to be vaccinated. This study revealed that most respondents believe COVID-19 and its vaccine exist but don't know much about their actions. As a result, many are unwilling to accept the vaccine. Though this finding is not gender-based, more awareness programs should be done to increase the vaccine acceptance rate.