Author(s)

Steward Mudenda^1*, Ruth Mbewe¹, Manal Hadi Ghaffoori Kanaan², Shafiq Mohamed³

¹Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
²Department of Agriculture, Technical Institute of Suwaria, Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq.
³Medicines Management and Pharmacy Services, St. James University Hospital, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by SARS-CoV-2. Since its emergence, there have been increased rates of transmission and spread, morbidity and mortality which led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines to address the pandemic. This study assessed acceptance, knowledge, attitude, and perceived risks regarding COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant women attending antenatal care at two First-Level Hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted among 241 pregnant women using a questionnaire from August 2023 to October 2023 in two First-Level Hospitals in Lusaka district, Zambia. The collected data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Statistical analysis was performed using a Chi-square test. The statistical significance was set at a 95% confidence level. Results: Of the 241 participants, 107 (42.7%) were aged between 24 and 34 years. Overall, 64.3% accepted the COVID-19 vaccines, of which 122 (50.6%) were already vaccinated. Further, 203 (84.6%) of the pregnant women had good knowledge, and 199 (82.6%) had positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines. However, 58.5% thought COVID-19 vaccines were not safe and could cause infertility. Alongside this, 70.1% thought that COVID-19 vaccines were harmful during pregnancy. Having good knowledge of COVID-19 vaccines was associated with age (p = 0.049), education status (p = 0.001), and employment status (p = 0.001). Having a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines was associated with education status (p = 0.001) and employment status (p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study found that most pregnant women had good knowledge, and positive attitudes, and the majority accepted the COVID-19 vaccine. Encouragingly, most of the pregnant women who accepted the COVID-19 vaccines were already vaccinated. Most pregnant women thought that COVID-19 vaccines had side effects, were not safe, and could be harmful during pregnancy. Consequently, this could have contributed to the hesitancy to receive a vaccine among some participants. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to provide pregnant women with continuous educational programs on the benefits of vaccinations for themselves and their children.

COVID-19 Vaccines, Pregnant Women, Vaccine Acceptance, Vaccine Hesitancy, Zambia

Mudenda, S. , Mbewe, R. , Kanaan, M. and Mohamed, S. (2024) COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy among Pregnant Women: A Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceived Risks Survey in Lusaka, Zambia. Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 15, 147-166. doi: 10.4236/pp.2024.155010.