Abstract

Background: As the covid-19 vaccination programs scaling up globally, there remains a growing concern about the community level awareness towards it. We aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness among general population towards covid-19 in adult and pediatric population. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and awareness among adult Saudi people toward covid-19 vaccine for adults and children. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional, community-based study among a representative sample (N=1373) of adult population in Saudi Arabia during October 2021. A structured, closed ended and pre-tested questionnaire was used online to collect the quantitative data through non-random sampling. Results: A great majority (91%) considered the seriousness of covid-19. About 80% perceived the available vaccines to be highly protective against the COVID-19 infection and complications. While about 69.7% agreed that pediatric vaccination will reduce the spread of covid-19, about 77.3% agreed on encouraging the parents to vaccinate their children. Only 43% were aware that vaccination is safe for breast feeding women and about 50.6% considered the vaccination to be safe in pregnant females. About 52.8% responded that the pediatric vaccine has same safety as efficacy as that in adults. The association with knowledge items was observed to be significant (p

Key words: COVID-19 vaccination, awareness, pediatric COVID-19 vaccination, Saudi Arabia.