Andrew Ifeanyichukwu Obi1,2
,
Janet Ogbonna1,
Major Usman Ogaba1,
Ekaete Tobin3,
Patrick Okundia4,
Pius Ononigwe5,
Faith Ireye6,
Alphonsus Rukevwe Isara1,2,
Regina Uwaoma Obi7,
For correspondence:- Andrew Obi Email: andrew.obi@cerhi.uniben.edu Tel: +2348023447122
Published: 31 March 2021
Citation: Obi AI, Ogbonna J, Ogaba MU, Tobin E, Okundia P, Ononigwe P, et al. Willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccine and its determinants among selected security personnel in Benin City. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2021; 2(1):1-7 doi: https://doi.org/10.47227/tjmdp.v2i1.1
© 2021 The author(s).
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Introduction: Perception towards health intervention such as COVID-19 vaccination to a large extent can influence willingness for vaccine acceptance and uptake. This study assessed determinants of willingness towards COVID-19 vaccine uptake among security personnel in Benin City Edo State, to help improve vaccine uptake among target population.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study involving 482 security personnel from selected security agencies in Benin City was conducted between 1st February 2021 and 31st May 2021. Data collected were analysed using SPSS version 25.0 statistical software with statistical significance set at p?0.050 and 95% Confidence Interval.
Results: All respondents studied have heard of the term COVID-19, with mass media 330 (68.5%) and health workers 274 (56.8%) identified as the main source of information. One hundred and ninety-four (40.0%) and 344 (71.4%) of respondents had good knowledge and positive attitude towards COVID-19 preventive measures while 374 (77.6%) respondents were willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Small household size(OR=0.609; 95% CI=0.374-0.993; p=0.047), low educational status (OR=0.070; 95% CI =0.008-0.577; p =0.014) low rank care of security personnel (OR=0.319; 95% CI= 0.142-0.718; p =0.006) and category of security agency (OR=8.235; 95% CI =2.791- 24.297; p <0.001) significantly influenced willingness for COVID-19 vaccination among security personnel.
Conclusion: Willingness for COVID-19 vaccination was high among security officers studied. Sustained strategic stakeholder engagement and sensitization of security personnel through routine health training and retraining on COVID-19 preventive measures is required to corresponding actual vaccination among target populations.
