public attitudes towards covid-19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study in iran

Background: vaccination is a strategy for controlling the covid-19 pandemic. after the vaccine is produced, the utilization of the vaccine becomes crucial. objectives: the study aims to investigate the public attitudes toward covid-19 vaccination in iran. methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted in iran from march 21 to july 6, 2021. the questionnaire collected attitudes towards the covid-19 vaccination and priorities for covid-19 vaccination. based on the formula for calculating the sample size to estimate the ratio, the sample size was approximately 715 people. a convenience sampling technique was used to select participants. data were collected both online and face-to-face from individuals over 18 years old. logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors predicting willingness to pay for vaccines. results: about 46% of the participants stated that they would use the covid-19 vaccine, and 36% of them stated that their use of the vaccine depends on the type and specifications of the vaccine. about 71% were willing to pay for a covid-19 vaccine. the most important reason for not using the vaccine was concerns about side effects of the vaccine (44.9%). about 88% of respondents agreed that the covid-19 vaccine should be free for everyone, and 56.6% favored that covid-19 vaccination should bemandatory and everyone should be vaccinated. there was a significant relationship between the willingness to pay for the vaccine with educational status and the perceived risk of being infected with covid-19 (%). healthcare workers (31.4%) had the highest priority for receiving the covid-19 vaccine. conclusions: most respondents were willing to receive and pay for the vaccine. the results provide useful information for decision-makers to identify individual and social values for a suitable vaccination strategy