Triggers for Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination: A Community- Based Study

Background: COVID- 19 vaccines have been released, giving a major hope of getting rid of the dark pandemic crisis. The availability of vaccines does not necessarily mean that the mass vaccination program is a success. We aimed to investigate COVID-19 vaccination knowledge level, acceptance rate, and perception state among Egyptians. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional online survey was carried out utilizing a selfadministered adult questionnaire that assesses vaccination acceptance with related sociodemographic factors and perceptions based on health belief model perspectives. Predictors of vaccination acceptance were based on logistic regression analysis. Results: We analyzed data for 957 participants, aged 18–78 years, 55.7% were females, and 66.9% were healthcare workers (HCWs). About one-fourth had a history of confirmed COVID-19 infection and 56.5% would accept to have one of the COVID-19 vaccines, where “Pfizer” was the preferable one (37.8%), while “AstraZeneca” was the most rejected vaccine (26.8%). The 1st vaccine dose was received by 273 (28.5%) of which 260 were intended to receive the 2nd dose. Vaccine efficacy, side effects, protection time, and administration route were essentially among the factors that may influence their decision to accept COVID-19 vaccines. About 83.1% had good knowledge about vaccination which was significantly higher with increased age, among graduates/professionals, governmental workers, HCWs in addition to those able to save/invest money, had a history of confirmed COVID-19 infection and intending to have COVID-19 vaccine. Perceptions that vaccination decreases the chance of getting COVID-19 or its complications (OR = 9.28; CI: 5.03-17.12), vaccination makes less worry about catching COVID-19 (OR = 6.76; CI: 3.88-11.76), and being afraid of getting COVID-19 (OR = 2.04; CI: 1.26–3.31) were strong significant predictors for vaccine acceptance. Conclusions: Vaccine campaigns should emphasize vaccine benefits and highlight the severity of infection while addressing barriers to vaccination in order to improve vaccine coverage among populations.