Awareness Of Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign Among Rural Dwellers

Project and Seminar Material for Mass Communication

Abstract

This study was carried out on the awareness of covid-19 vaccination campaign among rural dwellers. The study was specifically carried out to find out whether rural dwellers are aware of covid-19 vaccination campaign, ascertain the level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas, find out whether covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination, ascertain whether covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprised of residents of Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 160 respondents and 141 were validated.

Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables, while the hypotheses was tested using Chi-square Statistical tool. The result of the findings reveals that rural dwellers were aware of the covid-19 vaccination campaign. The study further reveals that covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated. Therefore, it is recommended that mass media need to recognize that they have an important role to play in the fight to minimize misinformation in Nigeria and across Africa thus this should enhance their effectiveness in performing their social responsibility of sensitizing the masses on the Covid-19 vaccination. To mention but a few.

Table of Content

Chapter One:

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Research Hypothesis
1.6 Significance of the Study
1.7 Scope of the Study
1.8 Limitation of the Study
1.9 Definition of Terms
1.10 Organization of the Study

Chapter Two:

Review of Literature

2.1 Conceptual Framework
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.3 Empirical Review

Chapter Three:

Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of the Study
3.3 Sample Size Determination
3.4 Sample Size Selection Technique and Procedure
3.5 Research Instrument and Administration
3.6 Method of Data Collection
3.7 Method of Data Analysis
3.8 Validity of the Study
3.9 Reliability of the Study
3.10 Ethical Consideration

Chapter Four:

Data Presentation and Analysis

4.1 Data Presentation
4.2 Analysis of Data
4.3 Answering Research Questions
4.4 Test of Hypotheses

Chapter Five:

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendation
References
APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

The putative “coronavirus” is thought to be a zoonotic virus that causes acute respiratory tract infections and deadly pneumonia in humans (Probasco, 2020). It was originally found in December 2019 in Wuhan, China’s capital of Hubei Province, and originated from animal sources before spreading to humans. According to Probasco (2020), the symptoms of the new coronavirus include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and diarrhea. Severity of the infections can cause pneumonia, renal failure, and death.

The intensity of the virus prompted the World Health Organization to declare it a global pandemic that had taken many lives, causing widespread alarm and contributing to many people worrisomeness (Zhou, 2020). In view of this, Quinones (2020) maintains that the impacts on public and mental health, social structures, and local and global economies have been enormously disruptive in practically every nation.

While numerous steps were implemented to limit and minimize the spread of the virus, efforts were made would formulate a vaccine for the lethal pandemic, which was accomplished in 2020. (Heymann, 2021). The emergence of covid 19 vaccines came as a huge relief to the world. However, the COVID-19 vaccine has been met with both excitement and trepidation. A significant portion of the world population remains skeptical of a COVID-19 vaccine, with a high percentage unsure if they will be vaccinated and a lower percentage unlikely to do so by the end of 2020.

The level of vaccine hesitancy in anticipation of vaccine approval by regulatory agencies has increased now that the vaccine is available, particularly for high priority health care workers and vulnerable populations. COVID-19 control is heavily reliant on its uptake(Krause, Freiling 2020). As a result, the impact of public risk communication efforts on vaccine effectiveness, safety, and availability is critical to vaccine uptake. Furthermore, risk communication efforts can be carried out via a variety of information channels. The public’s perception of information channels and the channels used to receive information about COVID-19 and the vaccine will determine the likelihood of achieving satisfactory levels of vaccine uptake.

However, demonstrating that a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective can only be a game changer if uptake is high enough to stop the virus’s spread. According to models with an 80 percent vaccine efficacy, the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity (depending on factors such as the basic reproduction number, the duration of vaccine-induced immunity, and whether vaccines prevent transmission. (Krause, Freiling 2020) observed that current vaccination intentions are far from sufficient to achieve this aim. A sizable proportion of the worldwide population reports being hesitant to be immunized, and while vaccine hesitancy varies, it remains alarmingly high in many countries. As a result, despite recent improvements in some countries, rates of vaccination intention in most countries remain below the percentage required for herd immunity.

The media has played a significant role in the spread of covid 19 vaccine news. Misinformation about the vaccine circulated through the different forms of media, and it has gotten worse since the vaccination was introduced. For example, there have been widespread conspiracy theories that the virus was created as a government bioweapon and that it was caused by 5G cellular networks and that the vaccines are harmful to them. (Basch, MacLean 2019) discovered that low quality sources on COVID-19 that were unverified and appeared to promote misinformation were more frequently retweeted than those with high quality information linked to verifiable health authorities.
Mass media have impacted on the spread of vaccine information and are airing a variety of programming to raise awareness about the COVID-19 immunization and to combat misinformation (Hamel, Munana 2013) The programs include local immunization news, interviews, and vaccinators’ experiences, as well as others. Mass media programs are receiving information on why the COVID-19 vaccine is important from a public health and socioeconomic standpoint, as well as who will be vaccinated first in the mass media broadcasts area, how the vaccine will be available, what to do after vaccination, and when Government instructions will be issued.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The initial occurrences of COVID-19 were traced back to Wuhan, China, and the virus spread mostly through human-to-human transmission. Tang (2021) said that human-to-human transmission of the virus is likely to occur mostly through intimate contact with infected people’s respiratory droplets, which are often formed by sneezing and coughing. As a result of the virus’s virulence, many control and preventative measures were developed and executed (Chinn & Soroka, 2020). The COVID-19 vaccine, on the other hand, was developed to eradicate the pandemic among humans. The COVID-19 vaccination is a critical component in limiting the extent to which people become infected with the virus. However, the vaccine’s objective would not have been successfully served if mass media broadcasts had not been used for mass information transmission (Engler, 2021). According to Ukpong (2021), in order to keep the public informed, the media, like healthcare personnel, have been working hard to assure the virus’s eradication and the use of the COVID-19 vaccine. In accordance with the aforementioned, journalists have been on the front lines, reporting on the cases, the death toll, and the precautions that the general public should take to prevent getting the virus, including the necessity for, availability of, and enrollment in the COVID-19 vaccination. In addition to alerting people about the pandemic, mass media works to shape public opinion regarding the virus, its method of transmission, and the preventative steps that can help to mitigate it, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine, as much misinformation has circulated on social media platforms.

However, people living in the rural areas have not had access to the vaccines and most pointed to the fact they were not privy to the information of the existence of the vaccine and the schedule for vaccination. Is the mass media really doing enough? Has the impacts of mass media broadcasting of the vaccine been felt?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The primary aim of this study is to assess the awareness of covid-19 vaccination campaign among rural dwellers. Other objective of this study are:

Find out whether rural dwellers are aware of covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Ascertain the level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas.
Find out whether covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination.
Ascertain whether covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated.

1.4 Research Questions

The study will be guided by the following questions;

Were rural dwellers aware of covid-19 vaccination campaign?
What is the level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas?
Does covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination.?
Does covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

Ho: Rural dwellers are not aware of the covid-19 vaccination campaign.

Ha: Rural dwellers are aware of the covid-19 vaccination campaign.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the medical field as it will help them know and make effective policies that will aid in the spread of accurate information about covid 19 vaccine. It will also be of great benefit to the media world as the results will show how impactful media is on the spread of broadcast messages about covid 19 vacciantions. Finally, this study will serve as existing material for further research and future reference.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study will assess the awareness of covid-19 vaccination campaign among rural dwellers. It will also ascertain the level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas and find out whether covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination. The respondents for this study will be obtained from residents of Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

This research project, like all human endeavors, had some challenges that threatened to derail the study’s completion. One of the reasons is that the time allotted for this work was so limited that the researcher did not have enough time to complete the task thoroughly. During data collection, the researcher also had to put forth extra effort to understand the respondents’ interview schedules, several of whom fell into the incomprehensible age group. Also, there were financial and transportation constraints to deal with. Insufficient funds tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, interview).

1.9 Definition of Terms

Vaccination:

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease.

Campaign:

An organized course of action to achieve a goal.

1.10 Organization of the Study

The study is categorized into five chapters. The first chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, research questions and hypothesis, the significance of the study, scope/limitations of the study, and definition of terms. The chapter two covers the review of literature with emphasis on conceptual framework, theoretical framework, and empirical review. Likewise, the chapter three which is the research methodology, specifically covers the research design, population of the study, sample size determination, sample size, and selection technique and procedure, research instrument and administration, method of data collection, method of data analysis, validity and reliability of the study, and ethical consideration. The second to last chapter being the chapter four presents the data presentation and analysis, while the last chapter (chapter five) contains the summary, conclusion and recommendation.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations:

5.1 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the findings on the awareness of covid-19 vaccination campaign among rural dwellers. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.

5.2 Summary of the Study

In this study, our focus was awareness of covid-19 vaccination campaign among rural dwellers. The study is was specifically carried out to find out whether rural dwellers are aware of covid-19 vaccination campaign, ascertain the level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas, find out whether covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination, ascertain whether covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated.

The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 50 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent were journalist in residents of Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State.

5.3 Conclusions

Based on the findings of this study, the researcher concluded that;

Rural dwellers were aware of the covid-19 vaccination campaign.
The level of covid-19 vaccination campaign effectiveness in rural areas is high.
Covid-19 vaccination campaign enhances rural dwellers knowledge of covid-19 vaccination.
Covid-19 vaccination campaign help the rural dwellers to understand the need to get vaccinated.

5.4 Recommendation

Based on the responses obtained, the researcher proffers the following recommendations:

Mass media need to recognize that they have an important role to play in the fight to minimize misinformation in Nigeria and across Africa thus this should enhance their effectiveness in performing their social responsibility of sensitizing the masses on the Covid-19 vaccination.
News and program content need to be carefully sourced and tailored to ensure that listeners in cities and at the grassroots, receive updated and accurate information about COVID-19 Vaccine as this can persuade or affect their choice of taking the vaccination and more so comply to the safety preventive measures.
Government and private sector support are also necessary for mass media to function effectively in Africa. Sadly, many mass medias are underfunded.
Civic societies should endeavor to collaborate with knowledgeable healthcare workers to go on outreach and enlighten the masses on the need to take the vaccine.