Evaluation of COVID-19 anxiety level and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance of the Turkish citizens during the pandemic period

Abstract

Aim: In this work, we try to determine the effect of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) on Turkish citizens’ anxiety levels and we try to investigate the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate among citizens. Moreover, the aforementioned two statistics are cross-correlated with each other. As final work, the reasons for the objection to the COVID-19 vaccine are observed. Method: The survey was conducted on October 5, 2020, the survey link for the research was made available for participation to all adults aged 18 and over throughout Turkey through various media channels and social media platforms (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook). Data was collected via an online survey for 27 days, and the target sample was reached using the snowball method, concluding data collection on November 1, 2020. The survey data is analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) programs. Results: The mean age was 36.47 ± 12 years and 62% (1260) were women of the 2032 participants. COVID-19 vaccine behavior (COVID-B) was reported as 3.52 ± 1.0 (min 1, max5). 51.3% of the respondents were positive for the vaccination. 20.9% of the participants were completely positive for the vaccination. The most relevant (with 27.9%) reason for the hesitation is the safety of the vaccination. Furthermore, vaccine positivity was reported as proportional to the safety concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic (r = 236). Conclusion: The report shows us that the rate of anxiety due to COVID-19 is related to the education level, which states that social awareness of the pandemic increased with the education level. However, there is no significant relationship between education level and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. The most related factor to vaccine acceptance was the concern level of the people. We can say that the vaccine rate could be increased with knowledge of the pandemic.