Determination of thoughts and behaviors about COVID-19 vaccines of patients over 18 years old applying to a family health center in Ankara, evaluation of side effects observed after vaccine

Objective: Coronavirus Disease, which emerged in December 2019 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, is a disease that causes the death of many people. Many studies have been done to treat and prevent the disease, but no definitive treatment has been found. Currently, the only way to get rid of the disease is seen as vaccination. Our aim in this study is to support studies that will increase the rate of vaccination with the results obtained by determining the preferences and reasons for rejection of people's COVID-19 vaccines and revealing the vaccine side effects. Materials and Methods: Permission was obtained from the relevant official institutions and the ethics committee for this study, in which patients over the age of 18 who applied to a family health center in Ankara were evaluated. Our study is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. The population of the study consists of patients who applied to a family health center in Ankara. It was decided by making Power Analysis (G-Power) that there should be at least 216 people in the study. The sample of the study consists of 316 patients who applied to the Family Health Center No. 4 in Yenimahalle. Since a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool in the study, all analyzes were carried out on an item basis. Pearson chi-square analysis was used to determine whether there was a significant relationship between the two variables. In addition, frequency and percentage values are reported in the cross tables of the examined cases. P<0.05 was accepted as statistical significance level in all analyzes. Results: 61.1% of the participants are women. The rate of having a chronic disease among the participants was found to be 32%. The vaccination rate of men was higher than that of women. Vaccination rate is highest in the 18-25 age group and over 65 years old with 100%. The vaccination rate of singles was found to be higher than that of married people, and as the number of children increases, it is seen that the rate of vaccination decreases, albeit slightly. The rate of vaccination was found to be higher in those with chronic disease than in those without. The most preferred vaccine was the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine with 55%, followed by the participants who had both types of vaccines with 33%, and the least preferred vaccine was the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine with 9%. The rate of mRNA vaccination in men was higher than in women, the rate of women who had only inactivated vaccine and both vaccine types was found to be higher than men. The rate of mRNA vaccination was higher in married people, and the rate of inactive vaccination was higher in singles. While the rate of those who have only mRNA vaccine is the highest in those without chronic disease, the highest rate of 51.6% in those with chronic disease belongs to those who have both types of vaccines. A significant relationship was found between the type of vaccine administered and the education level. Among the reasons for not being vaccinated, the most common reason for not being vaccinated was "Because the side effects that may occur due to the newness of the vaccines are not fully known". Among the reasons for vaccinating people to be vaccinated, it was found that "I trust the recommendations of doctors and scientists about the vaccine". The reasons for those with only inactivated vaccines were mostly "Because I thought that the side effects would be less due to a dead vaccine". The reasons for those who only had the mRNA vaccine were mostly "because I think its effectiveness and protection would be better because it is an mRNA vaccine". The reason for those who had both vaccine types together was mostly "I got it because the first vaccine was an inactive vaccine, in the future, when the mRNA vaccine came out, I got the mRNA vaccine to increase the protection". Women stated that they experienced more side effects than men. The rate of side effects in people with chronic disease was found to be higher than those without chronic disease. People who experienced side effects most frequently experienced mild to moderate side effects. When the duration of the side effects experienced after the vaccine was examined, it was seen that it lasted for 2 days most frequently. The incidence of post-vaccine side effects was higher in those who had only mRNA vaccine. The most common side effects after vaccination were found to be muscle pain, fatigue and pain at the injection site, swelling and redness, respectively. Conclusion: In the study in which we evaluated the attitudes of the participants about vaccination and the side effects observed after vaccination, the rate of vaccination of men was found to be higher than that of women. The reason for this high rate of vaccination of men; Because women generally have higher anxiety rates than men (128), women may also be more worried about vaccines and their side effects, and accordingly, they may be more cautious about getting vaccinated. According to age groups, the highest vaccination rate was found between 100% and 18, 25 years old and over 65 years old individuals. Since COVID-19 has the highest mortality rate in the elderly and those with chronic diseases, it may have caused a high rate of vaccination over the age of 65. It is thought that the social activity restrictions made for those who are not vaccinated in our country affect the high rate of vaccination in individuals between the ages of 18-25. As the number of children increased, the rate of vaccination decreased, which is thought to be due to the fact that families with children are generally exposed to more false news and social media sharing about vaccines. According to their socio-demographic characteristics, patients can be informed about COVID-19 vaccines in order to eliminate their hesitations about vaccines, to explain the correct and importance of vaccines, to be informed about possible side effects and their rates, thus contributing to the increase in the rate of vaccination. While the most preferred vaccine in the study was the mRNA vaccine, the least preferred was the inactivated vaccine. The most common reason for those who preferred mRNA vaccine was "because I thought its effectiveness and protection would be better because it is an mRNA vaccine", and the most common reason for those who had inactivated vaccine was "because I thought it would have less side effects because it is a dead vaccine". When we evaluated these results, it was found that the mRNA vaccine was more effective, while the inactivated vaccine had fewer side effects. While the incidence of side effects after mRNA vaccine was 70.7%, it was found to be 29.6% after inactivated vaccine. This confirmed the participants' thinking about the side effects of vaccines. The most common reasons for not being vaccinated were "Because the side effects that may occur due to the newness of the vaccines are not fully known" and "Because there are people around me who have had serious side effects". However, the majority of the side effects experienced in our study were mild and moderate, and the rate of serious side effects was found to be 2.5%. This shows that due to the newness of the vaccines and people sharing negative experiences and misinformation about vaccines, the fear of side effects in patients was higher than the actual rates. Expanding the studies on the effects and side effects of vaccines and sharing the results of the studies with the patients through the sources they follow may be one of the steps to be taken to change the thinking of the patients who are hesitant or against the vaccine. Keywords: Vaccine, COVID-19, Inactivated, mRNA