KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE ABOUT COVID-19 AND VACCINE ACCEPTANCE AMONG FAMILY PHYSICIAN IN AL-MADINAH

Background: COVID-19 vaccination is very important to get immunity agents new against SARS-CoV-2. Also, it’s important to know the knowledge and attitude and welling to get vaccination about covid-19 in family physicians cause the are the first line doctor and people get medical information from them so this why we chose this population to assess knowledge and willing to get vaccine. This study aims to assess family physician awareness about covid-19 and its vaccine in al Madinah and to explore the association between knowledge and awareness of covid-19 and acceptance to take its vaccine. The study also assessed the awareness of the covid-19 and the acceptance of covid-19 vaccine.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study that was carried out in Al-Madinah. The study was done on family physicians in Al-Madinah. A self-administered questionnaire was used in previous publications in the English language, the questionnaire was done online. By sending the questionnaire by WhatsApp. Data was verified by hand and then was coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. Official Data was presented using means and standard deviation and frequency number and percent according to the type of variable. The result will significant if p-value <0.05.

Results:The study included 152 participants, 57.9% were males and 42.1% were females. 61.2% aged between 25- 30 years old and 24.3% aged between 31- 40 years old. 59.9% of participants strongly agree that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by respiratory droplets. 35.5% strongly agree that Symptoms of COVID-19 can be similar with those of seasonal flu. 52.6% strongly agree that COVID-19 cause serious illness and death. 56.6% of study participants wash their hands before and after contact with the patient/patient’s environment. 30.9% think there is an available specific drug therapy for COVID-19 while 99.3% think is an available vaccine for COVID-19. However, all study participants received vaccine against COVID-19. Only 63.2% think they have sufficient level of knowledge about CIVID-19 and 39.5% intend to take the 3rd dose of vaccine.

Conclusion: Health care professionals are expected to be at high risk for COVID-19 because of contact with confirmed and suspected cases at the frontline. Family physicians in Saudi Arabia have moderate level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 vaccine.