Evaluation of the General Population’s Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Herpes Zoster Vaccination in the Northern Border and Al-Jouf Region of Saudi Arabia

Background: The knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of the general population concerning HZ and its vaccine are not well established in many regions of Saudi Arabia, including the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia (NBRSA) and Al-Jouf Region of Saudi Arabia (AJRSA). Accordingly, this study intended to evaluate the KAP of the individuals residing in the NBRSA and AJRSA.Methods: The data of this cross-sectional investigation was collected employing an online survey questionnaire through Google Forms. The questionnaire comprised questions related to demography and KAP of the general population of NBRSA and AJRSA about HZ and HZ vaccination. The data was collected and the significance of the results was analyzed by utilizing SPSS version 21 software (p < 0.05 = significant result).Results: The study comprised 483 participants from the NBRSA (50.72%) and AJRSA (49.27%). Most of the participants were from 40-45 (69.56%) years of age; females (60.86%); Saudi nationals (94.20%); university graduates (52.17%); belonged to the non-health sector (59.42%); and were not suffering from any chronic disease (78.26%). A majority of the participants (> 50%) had poor awareness about HZ and HZ vaccine. An appreciable number of participants (68.11%) were eager to learn more about HZ. The main source of information for HZ was the internet (46.37%) for most of the individuals.Conclusion: There is a considerable information gap as well as a low HZ vaccination rate among the people of NBRSA and AJRSA warranting initiating educational and awareness programs in these regions.