Knowledge, Attitude, and hesitance toward COVID-19 vaccination -a cross-sectional study from West Bengal

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigates knowledge, attitudes, and hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccination among 300 adults in West Bengal, India. Using stratified random sampling, participants were selected to represent diverse age, gender, and rural-urban demographics, resulting in 58.3% rural and 41.7% urban respondents. Data were collected through a pre-tested, structured questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.79) assessing socio-demographics, vaccine knowledge, attitudes, hesitancy, vaccination status, and information sources. Findings reveal that 65.0% of respondents perceived the vaccine as safe, but only 50.3% trusted its development, with 26.0%–28.7% uncertainty across knowledge items. Hesitancy was high, with 56.0% scoring 16–25 on a 5–25 scale, and 41.3% remaining unvaccinated. Social media and TV/newspapers were the primary information sources (28.3% each), while health workers were cited by only 20.7%. Linear regression (R² = 0.727) identified younger age (β = -2.3093, p < .001), lower education (β = -2.2400, p < .001), and rural location (β = -3.3785, p < .001) as significant predictors of higher hesitancy, while gender and income were non-significant. These results highlight substantial knowledge gaps and hesitancy, particularly in rural and less-educated groups, underscoring the need for targeted health education and improved access to credible information to enhance vaccination uptake in West Bengal.