Perception, Willingness, Barriers, and Hesitancy Towards COVID-19 Vaccine in Pakistan: Comparison Between Healthcare Workers and General Population

Background Vaccine hesitancy has been a huge challenge in controlling preventable diseases. With the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, it is vital to know their acceptance rates among the masses. No comparative data is available on the current subject from Pakistan yet. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the acceptance of a potential COVID-19 vaccine among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pakistan, along with their perceptions and barriers to acceptance. Methods An online cross-sectional study was carried out in Pakistan from December 19, 2020, to January 10, 2021, using convenience sampling. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 31 items was distributed after informed consent. Inclusion criteria consisted of HCWs and non-HCWs (general population) aged 18 years and above, residing in Pakistan. All analyses were done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Chi-square and T-test were used and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant for all cases. Results Of the 404 respondents (n=196 general population and n=208 HCWs), 73.5% were willing to get a proven, safe, and effective COVID-19 vaccine if it was free of cost. This was reduced to only 64.3% if the vaccine was not free and had to be paid for. A total of 168 (41.6%) participants agreed to get vaccinated immediately, while 149 (36.9%) participants concurred to get it on a delayed basis. Eighty-seven (21.5%) participants refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, amongst which a significant majority (p