Study of the attitude of Ukrainian citizens to vaccination: the results of an online survey

Introduction. Immunization is the process through which a person acquires immunity or becomes insensitive to infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global vaccination coverage of the world's population has fallen from 86% in 2019 to 83% in 2020. The World Health Assembly has approved a new strategy, The Immunization Agenda 2030, to address issues, including resuming routine vaccinations following COVID-19 disruptions. The aim of our study was to examine the attitude of the population of Ukraine to vaccination in general and vaccinations against COVID-19 in particular, as well as the role of physicians and pharmacists in immunization of the population. Materials and methods. Completed questionnaires of Ukrainian citizens were processed. Methods of critical analysis, concretization, scientific generalization and mathematical statistics were used. Microsoft Excel was used to process the survey results. Results and discussion. According to our own online survey conducted in March 2021 in the Facebook group "Vaccination: questions and answers" (processed 1197 completed questionnaires), it was found that more than a quarter of respondents (28,4%) believe that vaccines cause a large number of side effects, and in general are neither safe (28,4%) nor effective (14,7%) drugs. The vast majority of respondents (95,9%) are in favour of vaccination, while according to the vaccination calendar, 88,9% of supporters and 16,3% of opponents of vaccination are vaccinated. The role of the doctor in deciding on vaccination is very important for 71,1% of supporters and 42,9% of opponents of vaccinations. The role of the pharmacist in educational and informational work on immunization is important only for 39,1% and 22,4% of supporters and opponents of vaccination, respectively. Only 6 out of 10 proponents of vaccination clearly plan to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as opposed to none of the opponents. It was also found that 61,0% of respondents who have a positive opinion about immunization and 4,1% - negative – have a positive attitude to the vaccination passport. Conclusions. Vaccination coverage of the world's population has recently declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Ukraine, the coverage of compulsory vaccinations decreases with the age of patients, in particular due to the belief in widespread myths about low safety and efficacy of vaccines, and high risk of their side effects. The role of the pharmacist in informing the public about immunization is underestimated, as for more than 60% of respondents it does not matter