Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Patients Living with Cancers in Selected Teaching Hospitals in South West, Nigeria

This research examines COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among people living with cancers in three selected Teaching Hospitals in South-West, Nigeria. The research adopted a cross-sectional study design and a self-designed questionnaire was utilized to collect the data from 375 cancer patients who were selected from the teaching hospital using proportional stratified random sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, correlation, and ANOVA on SPSS version 27 with p-value of 0.005. The result showed that 115 (30.7%) were male and 260 (69.3%) were female respondents. The most prevalent cancer diagnosis among respondents was breast cancer, representing (40.0%) of cases. The majority of patients (90.1%) were diagnosed with cancer within the last 24 months, indicating recent diagnoses. The mean knowledge score was 32.3±4.1 where the majority (55.5%) had good knowledge and few (44.5%) had low knowledge about the Covid-19 vaccine. The mean acceptability score was 49.5±7.0 with 50% of participants demonstrating a high level of acceptability and the remaining 50% exhibiting a lower level of acceptability towards COVID-19 vaccine. The research showed that there is a statistically significant association between knowledge and the level of acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients (X²= 27.592; p = 0.000). It was recommended among others that there should be full implementation of the policies on the prioritization of the COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients. Health care workers should be adequately trained on effective communication with cancer patients about COVID-19 vaccine. Keywords: Knowledge, Acceptance, COVID-19, Vaccine, Cancer patients,