Covid‐19 Vaccine Acceptance in Pregnant Women Attending the Outpatient Clinic at Police Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan 2023

Abstract Background: Shortly after the COVID-19 Pandemic multiple researches were focused on manufacturing and synthesizing a vaccine to overcome the disease. Pregnant women being at increased risk of critical illness and having high rates of ICU admission especially due to respiratory prone illnesses, and Sudan being a third world country have high illiteracy rates among females, hence it was essential to determine vaccine acceptance and hesitancy attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant women. Methodology: A prospective cross sectional hospital based study, it was conducted at Police Hospital which is a tertiary specialized university hospital that falls under the administration of National Ribat University Faculty of Medicine. The sample size consisted of 240 pregnant women who attended the outpatient clinic during the study period. The collected data was analyzed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) V26. Results: Out of all the 240 participants, 89 individuals (37%) expressed their willingness to receive the vaccination if it were advised for pregnant women. The primary reasons for denial were insufficient data about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant individuals and concerns about potential harm to the developing fetus. There was a modest positive association observed between the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and the number of children of school age. Pregnant women in the first trimester shown greater willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine compared to those in the second and third trimesters. Conclusion: The current study demonstrated a poor level of acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination among a group of pregnant women. The primary cause of reluctance was apprehension regarding the safety of the vaccine. An important step in developing effective immunization tactics during the ongoing epidemic is to identify the attitudes prevalent among priority groups.