Abstract
Abstract
Background
The public's willingness to be vaccinated will determine the success of the COVID-19 vaccination program. The aim of this study was to identify acceptance and hesitancy to receive COVID-19 vaccine among university students in Egypt, assess their level of knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine and identify factors that influence their intention towards COVID-19 vaccination.
Methods
A standardized and self-administered questionnaire was distributed among university students allover Egypt. The questionnaire included sociodemographic data, intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine, knowledge and beliefs about it and status of COVID-19 vaccination. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptancy.
Results
A total of 1071 of university students were involved, with a mean age of 20.51 years (SD = 1.66) and 68.2% were females. COVID-19 vaccination acceptability rate was 69.0% while hesitancy was 20.8% and resistancy was 10.2%. Median knowledge score of 4 out of 8 (IQR = 8). The main motivation for vaccine acceptance was fear of being infected (53.6%) and desire to get back to normal life (51.0%) while the main barriers against getting vaccinated were being afraid of serious side effects. Univariate regression analysis revealed an increasing likelihood of vaccine acceptancy associated with an active lifestyle (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.04–1.75, p = 0.025), a high knowledge score (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.42–1.66, p < 0.001), and positive vaccine beliefs.
Conclusion
There is a high rate of acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among university students. Vaccine acceptability is associated with an active lifestyle, a high knowledge score and positive vaccine beliefs. Educational campaigns and efforts aiming to raise awareness about safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines need to be directed to this important population.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Reference47 articles.
1. Organization WH (2020) WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19. 2020, March 11. World Health Organization https://www.whoint/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-atthe-media-briefing-on-Covid-19. Accessed 11 Mar 2020.
2. WHO (2020) WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/. Accessed 16 Sep 2021.
3. Kelekar AK, Lucia VC, Afonso NM, Mascarenhas AK. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among dental and medical students. J Am Dent Assoc. 2021;152:596–603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2021.03.006.
4. WHO (2021) Status of COVID-19 Vaccines within WHO EUL-PQ evaluation process.
5. WHO (2021) Egypt: WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard With Vaccination Data. https://covid19.who.int. Accessed 26 Sep 2021.
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献