Abstract

Objective: To assess the general population's perception and status of acceptance regarding the COVID-19 vaccine in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
Methodology: This quantitative analytical cross-sectional study used convenient sampling method and selected 384 people from Lahore district. A self-structured tool on Perception and acceptance status was used. The percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated. Further, the chi-square test was applied to measure the association among demographic variables, perception, and acceptance status of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Results: Most of the respondents (59%) perceived that the COVID-19 vaccine is useful and 64% were highly inclined towards accepting the COVID-19 vaccine. Regarding the association between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their perception of the COVID-19 vaccine, age was the main predictor of good perception (p=0.006). Similarly, age positively correlated with accepting the COVID-19 vaccine (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The general population's perception and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine were good. Still, more needs to be done to educate the people and disseminate accurate information to raise the vaccine's acceptance status.

Key words: Covid-19 vaccine, perception, acceptance status, socioeconomic status.