Barriers to managing COVID-19 pandemic: Attitude towards vaccination and implications for public health

Background: In order to achieve long-term optimum public health response, herd immunity is required, and this may happen if general populations willingly offered the COVID- 19 vaccine. The current study aimed to explore the attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine, and to outline the common barriers interfering with vaccination among Egyptian population. A cross-sectional study has been carried out among 1282 participants utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Negative attitude was associated with low trust in the capability of the country instructions to combat COVID-19 (OR=5.97, CI95%: 3.37-10.57), unsatisfactory knowledge (OR=15.73 CI95%: 9.54-25.92), being worried about adverse effects (OR=2.97, CI95%: 1.96-4.52), being not committed to protection measures like PPE, HH and social isolation (OR=2.16, CI95%: 1.42-3.25), not working (OR=3.04, CI95%: 2.11-4.36), low education (OR=10.12, CI95%: 7.11-14.40), don't know deep experienced trials of vaccines (OR=1.76, CI95%: 1.45-2.13), being female (OR=3.09, CI95%: 2.17-4.39), increase age (OR=1.03, CI95%: 1.01-1.06) and depression symptoms (OR=1.64, CI95%: 1.12-2.41). Conclusion: The main barriers of negative attitude toward vaccine include worrying about vaccine side effects, poor knowledge regarding COVID-19 and mistrusting the country's ability to combat it.