Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Evaluation of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pharmacy students’ acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in South India

Swathy Govindaswamy¹ , Lakshmi Erakkooth², Dhivya P Sundaram³, Sujatha Kuppusamy⁴, Abdul kadhar Sathick Batcha², Mowfiya Nazeer², Swetha Balasubramaniyam²

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Pharmacy, SRIHER (DU), Chennai, Tamilnadu; ²Department of Pharmacy Practice, KMCH College of Pharmacy, Coimbatore; ³Department of Biomedical Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu; ⁴Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Pharmacy, SRIHER (DU), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

For correspondence:- Swathy Govindaswamy Email: swathyg86@gmail.com

Accepted: 28 August 2024 Published: 30 September 2024

Citation: Govindaswamy S, Erakkooth L, Sundaram DP, Kuppusamy S, Batcha AS, Nazeer M, et al. Evaluation of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pharmacy students’ acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in South India. Trop J Pharm Res 2024; 23(9):1483-1489 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v23i9.11

© 2024 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To assess South Indian pharmacy students' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding adherence to COVID-19 immunization guidelines. Methods: A six-month prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among KMCH College of Pharmacy, Coimbatore pharmacy students. The 39 validated questions on knowledge, attitudes, practices, and concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine were used to grade replies using 3-point and 5-point Likert scales. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0, was used to analyze the data. Results: The survey was completed by a total of 271 pharmacy students. A majority (59 %) of students possessed adequate knowledge (p = 0.0003), and 92 % were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The majority of respondents have implemented COVID-19-appropriate practices. Majority of information sources (52 %) were from healthcare providers. Conclusion: Pharmacy students in South India have a fair knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination. More effort is required to improve awareness on this subject.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination, Survey, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP), Public health