Examining Covid-19 Vaccine Literacy and Vaccine Hesitancy Levels: Application Example on University Students

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to determine the vaccine literacy levels and vaccine hesitancy levels of students studying at a public university, to determine their differences according to socio-demographic variables, and to examine the relationship between vaccine literacy and vaccine hesitancy.The population of the descriptive and cross-sectional study consists of students enrolled in the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at a public university in the 2021-2022 academic year. The sampling method was not chosen in the study, and the whole universe was tried to be reached. The sample of the study consists of 506 students who voluntarily agreed to participate. The research data were collected by using a questionnaire prepared online through the Google form due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis of the obtained data was made using the SPSS 25.0 package program.As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that the vaccination literacy level of the students was 2,74, above the medium level, and the vaccination hesitancy level in the pandemics was close to the medium level with 2,46. It has been revealed that the students participating in the research prefer new media elements (web sites, social media, etc.) as a source of information with a rate of 97%, rather than traditional media tools. As a result of the analyzes, a negative and low-level relationship was found between vaccine literacy and vaccine hesitancy levels in pandemics. In addition, vaccine literacy explains 3,5% of vaccine hesitancy in pandemics.