@article{Amjad_Z-2023_133748,
title = {Covid-19 vaccines status, acceptance and hesitancy among maintenance hemodialysis patients : a cross-sectional study and the implications for Pakistan and beyond},
author = {Amjad, Z. and Maryam, I. and Munir, M. and Salman, M. and Baraka, M. and Mustafa, Z. and Khan, Y. and Mallhi, T. and Hasan, S. and Meyer, J. and Godman, B.},
month = {apr},
year = {2023},
abstract = {COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy continues to be a widespread problem in Pakistan due to various conspiracy beliefs, myths and misconceptions. Since the hemodialysis population is at higher risk of contracting infections, we sought to investigate the current COVID-19 immunization status and reasons for any vaccine hesitancy among these patients in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted among maintenance hemodialysis patients at six hospitals of Punjab Province of Pakistan. Data were collected anonymously using a questionnaire. 399 hemodialysis patients took part in the survey, the majority of them were male (56%) and aged 45 – 64 years. 62.4% of the patients reported receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Of those vaccinated (249), 73.5% had received two dose and 16.9% had received a booster dose. The most common reasons for vaccination were “being aware they were at high risk” (89.6%), “fear of getting infected” (89.2%) and “willingness to fight against COVID-19 pandemic” (83.9%). Of the 150 patients who had not yet been vaccinated, only 10 showed willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The major reasons for refusal included “COVID-19 is not a real problem” (75%), “corona vaccine is a con-spiracy (72.1%)” and “I don’t need the vaccine” (60.7%). Our study revealed that only 62% pa-tients receiving hemodialysis were partially or completely vaccinated against COVID-19. Con-sequently, there is a need to initiate aggressive approaches to educate this high-risk population in order to address their vaccine safety and efficacy concerns and correct current myths and mis-conceptions to improve the COVID-19 immunization status in this population.},
volume = {11},
issue = {5},
journal = {Vaccines},
publisher = {MDPI},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11050904 10.3390/vaccines11050904},
}
