August 2026, Volume 4, Issue 8

Author

V. Sudha, V. Nagavalli, K. Sevvanthi and R.K. Sreekannathal

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Vaccine hesitancy is defined as a delay in acceptance of vaccines despite its availability, caused by many determinants. This study aimed to assess the level of COVID vaccine hesitancy among parents of children aged 15 to 18 years in Puducherry and to find out the associated factors with vaccine hesitancy. Materials and Methods: A Community based Cross-sectional study conducted among 245 parents of children aged 15- 18 years who were residing in rural field practice area of a medical college in Puducherry by using Systematic random sampling during January to March 2021. Vaccine hesitancy scale adopted from WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Immunization (SAGE) was used and proportion and Chi-square were carried using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of the participants were 48 years with standard deviation of 7.3. Of the overall participants,159 (64.6%) were females and 87 (35.4%) were males. Around 20.3% of parents had hesitation in vaccinating their children. Higher proportion of the parents mentioned the fear of death and side effects are the reasons for not vaccinating their children. Conclusions: Health education on safety, effectiveness of covid vaccine should be addressed to the community with effective engagement of health care professionals can reduce the covid vaccine hesitancy.