Fear of COVID-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy among Pregnant Women in Poland: A Cross-Sectional Study

Kinga Janik; Kinga Nietupska; Grazyna Iwanowicz-Palus; Mateusz Cybulski

doi:10.3390/vaccines10101700

Fear of COVID-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy among Pregnant Women in Poland: A Cross-Sectional Study

Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Oct 11;10(10):1700. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10101700.

Authors

Kinga Janik¹, Kinga Nietupska², Grazyna Iwanowicz-Palus³, Mateusz Cybulski¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrated Medical Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Bialystok, M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 7A Str., 15-096 Bialystok, Poland.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Independent Public Healthcare Center in Sokolka, Sikorskiego 40 Str., 16-100 Sokolka, Poland.
³ Department of Development in Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, Staszica 4/6 Str., 20-081 Lublin, Poland.

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to anxiety and stress, and the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely contributed to anxiety in this group. Researchers continue their work on COVID-19 vaccine formulations to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and minimise the impact of the pandemic. Despite the increased prevalence and severity of anxiety among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic, their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine vary. The aim of this study was to assess the levels of anxiety experienced by pregnant women due to COVID-19 and their attitudes to vaccination.

Materials and methods: A total of 595 women voluntarily participated in the study. The respondents were divided into two groups: the study group (n = 288), which consisted of women who were pregnant at the time of the survey, and the control group (n = 307), which included women of reproductive age (18-49 years). The study used a diagnostic survey method with a web-based questionnaire consisting of the author's survey questionnaire and the following standardised tools: the Scale to Measure the Perception of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Acceptance (VAC-COVID-19 SCALE), the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), the Drivers of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (DrVac-COVID19S) and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS).

Results: The level of COVID-related anxiety differed depending on the tool used. Mild anxiety was reported for CAS, while FCV-19S showed its moderate levels. Both pregnant women and women of reproductive age showed high scores in VAC-COVID-19 and DrVac-COVID19S. The mean VAC-COVID-19 scores were 41.44 in the study group and 44.26 in the control group, and the mean DrVac-COVID19S scores were 51.25 in pregnant women and 55.85 in women of reproductive age. This indicates a high level of acceptance of and positive attitudes toward vaccinations.

Conclusions: Pregnant women showed moderate coronavirus anxiety. Women in both the study group and the control group showed mostly positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; anxiety; attitudes; fear; pregnant; vaccines.

Grants and funding

SUB/3/DN/22/11/3310/Medical University of Bialystok