Abstract
BackgroundCOVID-19 is still a major global threat for which vaccination remains the ultimate solution. Uganda reported 40,751 cases and 335 deaths as of 9 April 2021 and started its vaccination program among priority groups like health workers, teachers, those with chronic diseases among others in early March 2021. Unanimous uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is required to subsequently avert its spread; therefore, we assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptability, hesitancy, and associated factors among medical students in Uganda.MethodsThis study employed an online descriptive cross-sectional survey among medical students across 10 medical schools in Uganda. A structured questionnaire via Google Form was conveniently sent to eligible participants via WhatsApp. Each medical school had a coordinator who consistently shared the data tool in the WhatsApp groups. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test, and logistic regression were used to assess the association between vaccine acceptability with demographics, COVID-19 risk perception, and vaccine hesitancy.ResultsWe surveyed 600 medical students, 377 (62.8%) were male. COVID-19 vaccine acceptability was 37.3% and vaccine hesitancy 30.7%. Factors associated with vaccine acceptability were being male (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.9, 95% CI 1.3–2.9, p=0.001) and being single (aOR= 2.1, 95% CI 1.1–3.9, p=0.022). Very high (aOR= 3.5, 95% CI 1.7–6.9, p<0.001) or moderate (aOR =2.2, 95% CI 1.2–4.1, p=0.008) perceived risk of getting COVID-19 in the future, receiving any vaccine in the past 5 years (aOR= 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.5, p=0.017), and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4–0.9, p=0.036).ConclusionsThis study revealed low levels of acceptance towards the COVID-19 vaccine among medical students, low self-perceived risks of COVID-19, and many had relied on social media that provided them with negative information. This poses an evident risk on the battle towards COVID-19 in the future especially when these future health professions are expected to be influencing decisions of the general public towards the same.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Demographics Frequency %caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to create mayhem across the globe
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) courses run for 5 years; Bachelor of Nursing (BNS), Bachelor of Anesthesia (BNA), and Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPHARM) are done for 4 years while Biomedical Laboratory Technology (BLT) and Bachelors of Biomedical Sciences (BBS) go for 3 years in our sampled universities
Busitema University (BU) had the highest number of participants (n=122, 20.4%); the least (n=14, 2.3%) number of participants were from Uganda Christian University (UCU)
Summary
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Demographics Frequency %. Caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to create mayhem across the globe. Over135 million people have Age ≤24 >24 Sex. 38.8 been infected with SARS-CoV-2 resulting in over 2.9 Male. 62.8 million deaths worldwide [2]. 37.2 has continuously recorded fewer cases of COVID-19 with about 4.3 million cases and 115,321 deaths [2]. Uganda reported 40,751 cases with 335 deaths as of 9 April 2021 [3]. COVID-19 is still a major global threat for which vaccination remains the ultimate solution. Uganda reported 40,751 cases and 335 deaths as of 9 April 2021 and started its vaccination program among priority groups like health workers, teachers, those with chronic diseases among others in early March 2021. Unanimous uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is required to subsequently avert its spread; we assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptability, hesitancy, and associated factors among medical students in Uganda
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