Introduction:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, factors such as border closures, late receipt of vaccines, limitation of population circulation, relocation of nurses from vaccination areas to areas of care for patients with COVID-19, added to the fear of contagion affected vaccination coverage in several countries.

Objective:

Describe the perception of the COVID-19 vaccine and its effect on the regular vaccination coverage of indigenous peoples in the department of Presidente Hayes, Paraguay 2022.

Methods:

Descriptive, retrospective, observational study with a qualitative-quantitative cross-sectional design.

Results:

The characteristics of the indigenous peoples reveals that 110 (26.44%) are between 28 and 37 years old, 276 (66.35%) are female, 133 (31.97%) are of the Angaité ethnic group, 290 (69.71%) have studies up to the primary level and 178 (42.79%) have single marital status. The perception towards the COVID-19 vaccination was favorable in 201 subjects (48%) and very unfavorable in 148 (36%). There are indigenous peoples with great influence of cultural and religious beliefs in relation to vaccines. Regular vaccination was affected.

Discussion:

It was observed that the COVID-19 pandemic and the appearance of the vaccine developed distrust not only in the COVID-19 vaccine but also in the rest of the vaccines in some of the towns studied.