Abstract:
Background: Intention to take COVID-19 is readiness to receive COVID-19 vaccine and how much an effort they are planning to exert, to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Pregnant mothers are risky population groups for COVID19. There are some studies in Ethiopia on intention to take COVID19 vaccine among pregnant women. There was discrepancy between studies which makes it difficult to conclude whether it is a problem or not. In addition, some variables such as; trust on traditional medicine and home remedies, family influence and experience of COVID19 disease were not included in the previous studies, despite they are crucial to assess intention to take COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, further study on intention to take COVID19 vaccine and its associated factors is crucial to reach at conclusion about it.
Objective: To assess intention to take COVID-19 vaccine and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public health facilities in Bahir Dar city, North West Ethiopia, 2022.
Methods: Facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 590 pregnant women from May 23-June 23/2022. The study participants were selected using systematic sampling technique. Interviewer administrative questionnaire with epicollect5 application was used to collect the data. To identify factors associated with intention to take COVID-19 vaccine, bi-variable and multivariable regression analysis was done using binary logistic regression model. Statistical significance was defined at a 95%CI with p-value <0.05.
Result: Overall, 19.8% (95%CI: 16.60% to 23.06%) of pregnant women had the intention to take COVID-19 vaccine. Being urban residence (AOR=3.40, 95%CI: 1.71-6.78), 3rd trimester of gestational age (AOR=3.11, 95%CI: 1.61-6.03), multipara (AOR=2.30, 95%CI: 1.33-3.97), knowledge of COVID-19 vaccine (AOR=2.33, 95%CI: 1.44-3.77) and having good attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine (AOR=2.68, 95%CI: 1.65-4.33) were significantly associated with intention to take COVID-19 vaccine.
Conclusion: This finding revealed that the intention to take COVID 19 vaccine among pregnant women was very low. It was significantly associated with residency, gestational age, parity, knowledge and attitude on the vaccine. Therefore, strengthening interventions that increases the knowledge and the attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine may increase the intention to take COVID-19 vaccine. Moreover more emphasis should be given to rural areas.
Key word: intention to take, COVID-19 vaccine, factors, pregnant women, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.