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.
References
Lurie N, Saville M, Hatchett R, Halton J. Developing Covid-19Vaccines at Pandemic Speed. N Engl J Med. 2020; 382: 1969-73.https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2005630
Dror AA, Eisenbach N, Taiber S, et al. Vaccine hesitancy: thenext challenge in the fight against COVID 19. Eur J Epidemiol. 2020; 35: 775-9https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-020-00671-y
World Health Organization. Ten threats to global health in2019.
[Cited: 09 Mayis 2022]: Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-toglobal-health-in2019.[4] Sunar L ve Kaya Y. Toplumsal Yapi Arastirmalari Programi.Pandeminin Sosyal Etkileri ve Toplumun Asi ile Ilgili Yaklasimlari
[Social Structure Research Program. Social Effects of the Pandemic and Approaches of the Society toVaccination. 2021
[Cited: 09 May 2022]. Available from: https://tyap.net/mediaf/Pandeminin_Sosyal_Etkileri_Detayli_Sunum.pdf
Yilmaz HI, Turgut B, Çitlak G, Ogulcan ME, Parali B, EnginM, Aktas A, Alimoglu O. Türkiye'de Insanlarin COVID-19 Asisina Bakisi
[People's View of COVID-19 Vaccine inTurkey]. Dicle Med J. 2021; 48(3): 583-94. https://doi.org/10.5798/dicletip.988080[6] Ikiisik H, Akif Sezerol M, Tasçi Y, Maral I. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A community-based research in Turkey.International Journal of Clinical Practice. 2021 Aug; 75(8): e14336.https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.14336
Kaya MO, Yakar B, Pamukçu E, Önalan E, Akkoç RF,Pirinçci E, Gürsu MF. Acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine and role of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs on vaccinationwillingness among medical students. The European Research Journal. 2021; 7(4): 417-24.https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.907213
Gallup. Wellcome Global Monitor-How Does the World Feelabout Science and Health, 2018.
[Cited: 10 May 2022]. Available from: https: //wellcome.org/sites/default/files/wellcome-global-monitor2018.pdf[9] Balan A, Bejan I, Bonciu S, Eni CE, Ruța S. RomanianMedical Students' Attitude towards and Perceived Knowledge on COVID-19 Vaccination. Vaccines. 2021; 9(8):854. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9080854[10] Saied SM, Saied EM, Kabbash IA, Abdo SAEF. Vaccine hesitancy: Beliefs and barriers associated with COVID-19vaccination among Egyptian medical students. Journal of medical virology. 2021; 93(7): 4280-4291.https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.26910
Jain J, Saurabh S, Kumar P, Verma MK, Goel AD, Gupta MKet al. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students in India. Epidemiology & Infection. 2021; 1-28.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268821001205
Manning ML, Gerolamo AM, Marino MA, Hanson-Zalot ME,Pogorzelska-Maziarz M. COVID-19 vaccination readiness among nurse faculty and student nurses. Nurs Outlook.2021; 69(4): 565-573.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.01.019
Coskun Erçelik H, Çamlica T. Fear of COVID-19 AmongNursing Students and Evaluation of Their Attitudes Towards Vaccination: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Research.Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Nursing Sciences. 2022; 1: 14(1).https://doi.org/10.5336/nurses.2021-83719
Neumann-Böhme S, Varghese NE, Sabat I, et al. Once wehave it, will we use it? A European survey on willingness tobe vaccinated against COVID-19. Eur J Health Econ. 2020; 21: 977-82.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-020-01208-6