Community Awareness and Perception Regarding Vaccination against COVID-19, Concerns about Side Effects in Gezira State, Sudan

Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy is undermining individual and community protection from vaccine-preventable diseases. This study aimed to investigate the level of awareness and perception of the COVID-19 vaccine and its determinants among people in Wad Madani City, Gezira State, as well as its known side effects. Methods and Results: This cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlative study included 400 participants (56.8% females and 43.2% males) who visited Wad Madani neighborhood COVID-19 centers during the data collection period (June 2022). The data was collected using a structured questionnaire based on prior published studies. Approximately 93.0% of the participants knew the importance of the COVID-19 vaccines, 84.8% knew about their effectiveness, and 83.8% knew that the vaccines help to reduce the risk of virus infection. However, only 58.0% were vaccinated against COVID-19. The results showed that 56.8% of the participants did not develop side effects. Among those who did, the most common side effects were headache and fever (10.2%), injection site pain (7.9%), myalgia (7.1%), and chills and swelling (5.6%). The results showed that 52.5% had negative perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Urban residents were 2.17 times more likely to have a positive perception of the COVID-19 vaccine than rural residents (P=0.05). Furthermore, study participants with nuclear family type have shown a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccines and were 2.32 times more likely to have had a positive attitude than participants with extended family (P=0.036). Moreover, participants not vaccinated were found to be less likely to have had a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine, when compared with vaccinated participants (P=0.005). Conclusion: Although society is aware of the need for COVID-19 immunization, the community has a low positive perception toward COVID-19 vaccination. Similarly, people in rural areas are less aware of the significance of immunization. Local health officials must collaborate to address public fears about vaccinations through the media.