A cross-sectional study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in peri-urban areas in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

Vaccination is a potential public health solution for the prevention of infection. It reduces the severity of symptoms in the case of COVID-19. Despite the availability of vaccines, some people are hesitant to be vaccinated. The objectives of this study were to measure the proportion of vaccine hesitancy among the peri-urban population and identify its determinants. An adult population of 303 from two peri-urban areas in the field practice area of the Urban Health Training Center, Rama Medical College, was interviewed from February 22 to March 25, 2021. Epicollect 5 was used for collecting data, and STATA 16 was used for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to compute the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (95% confidence interval) to find out the determinants of vaccine hesitancy. The 3Cs model-guided tools were used for data collection and analysis. More than one-fourth (28%) of the participants were vaccine-hesitant, whereas 34.6% had no confidence in the vaccine. Other reasons were complacency (40.6%) and convenience (35.9%). Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with gender [AOR=2.40 (1.12-5.16)] and trust in government [AOR=0.18 (0.08-0.45)], but there was no association with age group, political affiliation, or source of information about the vaccine. It is important to build people’s trust in vaccines, make them convenient, and resolve the issues that are making them complacent. The health system needs to involve non-governmental organizations to reach out to those for whom there are issues of availability and approach.