Assessment of Bayelsa People's Attitude towards Covid-19 Vaccination Campaigns

Abstract

This study examined the attitude of the people of Bayelsa State towards the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The objectives of the study were to assess the extent to which Bayelsa State people are exposed to campaigns on COVID-19 vaccination, the responses and influence of the campaign. The study made used of analytical descriptive survey design.It selected 384 respondents through the multi-stage sampling technique among residents of all the eight (8) local government areas of Bayelsa state. The questionnaire was the instrument for data collection, thesimple percentage and weighted mean scorefor analysis. Findings revealed that the extent Bayelsa State people were exposed to the campaigns on COVID-19 vaccination was low, while that of public announcement encouraging vaccination uptake was high. The study concludes that campaigns led to no action because it was unable to dispel misinformation, unreasonable fears about vaccine safety, poor communication at the onset of the campaign and public mistrust of government intentions. The study therefore recommends that since the level of exposure to campaigns on COVID-19 vaccination was low, massive awareness campaign should be undertaken on health-related issues to enlighten people on the dangers of hesitancy and benefits of vaccine or such health-related issue to the public.