Willingness for COVID-19 Vaccination among Healthcare Students and their Perception about Reasons for Society’s Hesitation Against COVID-19 Vaccination: Evidence from a University Students in Turkey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12974/2313-0946.2022.07.01.1Keywords:
Afyonkarahisar, Hesitation, Vaccine, Medical students, SocietyAbstract
The attitude of university students studying in health-related fields towards vaccines is an important population
that can affect the vaccination decision of the public. It is aimed to determine the attitudes of society toward the Covid-19
vaccine from the perspective of Afyonkarahisar Health Science University students. It is a cross-sectional study applied
face-to-face with Afyonkarahisar Health Science University students between November 2021 and December 2021. The
mean age of students is 20.5 ± 2.2 and 70.7% of them are female. 56.1% of the students stated that they believed the
COVID-19 vaccine was effective and 49.5% believed it was safe. When the students' requests for the COVID-19 vaccine
were questioned, 71.6% stated that they wanted to be vaccinated, 19.4% stated that they were against the vaccine, and
9.0% had hesitations about the vaccine. According to the perspective of the students, the top 5 reasons for the general
hesitations of the society against the COVID-19 vaccine are; Fear/insecurity with 79%, negative effects of the internet
and social media with 73%, ignorance with 73%, false/unauthorized information source with 73% and fear of sudden
allergic reaction with 72% has received. According to students, the top three common reasons for the society against not
getting COVID-19 vaccine are; “Nothing will happen to us”, “pandemic is a conspiracy” and “risk/benefit ratio” are
included. Students who are willing to get vaccinated think that "natural immunity", "alternative medicine", "conspiracy
theories about vaccines, and ignorance" are important factors for the society's hesitation not to vaccinate (p<0.05).
Adequate pieces of knowledge of the students' risk-benefit ratios and natural and acquired immunity related to vaccines
are can serve to build trust and a positive attitude toward vaccines in the community.
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