Purpose: to determine COVID-19 vaccination coverage among pregnant women and investigate the factors affecting vaccine uptake.

Design: Analytical cross-sectional study.

Setting: Palestinian health care facilities. Between October and November 2021 – eight months after the country’s first COVID-19 vaccination.

Sample: We needed 820 people to estimate vaccination coverage among pregnant women with a precision rate of 3%. Therefore, we invited 950 pregnant Palestinian women who were eligible and had a response rate of 91.6%.

Measures: An interviewer-administered questionnaire examined vaccination uptake, attitudes, and concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Analysis: Bivariable and multivariable analysis using SPSS.

Results: vaccination uptake was reported by 219 pregnant women [25.5%, 95% CI: 22.6% −28.5%]. Knowledge (aOR=2.0; 95% CI: 1.2-3.1), perceived benefits (aOR=1.1; 95% CI: 1.06-1.16), employment (aOR=5; 95% CI: 3.1-8.1), and underlying medical condition (aOR=2.1; 95% CI: 1.1-4.1) predicted uptake. Reporting vaccine barriers reduces vaccine uptake (aOR=.92; 95% CI: .89-95).

Conclusions: Pregnant women’s COVID-19 vaccination rates are low. Concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine for infants affected their decision. COVID-19 vaccination regulations and legislative nudges drove maternal vaccination. Vaccine fears and misconceptions among pregnant women should be addressed.

Title

American Journal of Health Promotion

Publisher

SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

2.956

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

37

Year

2023

Pages

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