Awareness about COVID-19 vaccine, its acceptance and hesitancy among the urban slum & non-slum population of Dharavi in Mumbai, India

Background: Vaccine apprehension poses a risk to global public health. Since an enormous global initiative was underway to create a vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about its acceptance in India. Understanding COVID-19 vaccine-related awareness, acceptance and non-acceptance of current and potential vaccines can aid in the development of strategies to improve the national mass vaccination programme. This study aims to determine vaccine related awareness, acceptance & awareness among Dharavi (Slum & Non-Slum) population of Mumbai for COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted. Total 384 participants were surveyed, among them 192 were from Dharavi slum & 192 from Dharavi non-slum area. Responses to the questionnaire using Google form was filled in the field itself, by doing house to house survey using convenience sampling. Data on socio-demographic characters, COVID-19 vaccine awareness, acceptance & non-acceptance was collected.

Results: Overall, out of 384 participants, 227 (59.1%) were having poor or very poor awareness & 157 (40.9%) were having average or above average awareness related to COVID-19 vaccines. Out of 192 slum residents 118 (61.5 %) & out of 192 residents of non-slum 132 (68.8%) were willing to get vaccinated & the difference is not statistically significant. Overall, out of 384 participants of Dharavi 250 (65.1%) were showing vaccine acceptance & 134 (34.9%) participants were showing vaccine hesitancy.

Conclusion: Proportion of awareness & acceptance for COVID-19 vaccine varies & interlinked with socio-demographic characteristics like gender, educational level, religion & area of residency of the study population. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was found to have significant association with awareness.