COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Prevalence and Predictors among the Students of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia Using the Health Belief Model: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Mohamed Salih Mahfouz,Sarah Zaki Abdullah Alfaraj,Husameldin Elsawi Khalafalla,Shroog Mohammed Ali Fathi,Fatimah Hasser Abdullah Arishi,Enas Mohammed Ali Masmali,Thekra Badr Mohammed Tashari,Roaa Hassan Mohammed Shadad,Maria Zenaida Tumambeng,Majidah Hussain Asiri Halawi

doi:10.3390/vaccines10020289

Mohamed Salih Mahfouz, Sarah Zaki Abdullah Alfaraj + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10020289

Copy DOI

Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Feb 14, 2022
Citations: 17	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Jazan University

Abstract

Vaccination has a major role in the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. The behavior toward accepting the COVID-19 vaccine is complex and multifactorial, while the level of acceptance and hesitancy depends on many factors. This study aims to measure the level of vaccine acceptance among Jazan University students and identify its predictors. In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire based on the health belief model (HBM) was sent through social media “WhatsApp” to two strata of students selected by convenient sampling. The overall desire to get vaccinated was noted in 83.6% of participants, and 16.4% reported no desire to be vaccinated. The constructs of the HBM were shown to significantly predict vaccine acceptance with the exception of “perceived susceptibility”. In conclusion, the level of acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among Jazan University students was relatively high. The HBM constructs are important predictors of the vaccination behavior with the exception of the construct “perceived susceptibility”.

Highlights

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World HealthOrganization on 11 March 2020, approximately three months after the first reported case in Hubei Province, Wuhan, China [1]
This study aims to determine the level of vaccine acceptance among students of Jazan University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and the factors that affect the adoption of this behavior
Jazan University is based in the city of Jazan of the Jazan region, which is located at the southern border of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World HealthOrganization on 11 March 2020, approximately three months after the first reported case in Hubei Province, Wuhan, China [1]. Several measures were adopted to slow the spread of COVID-19 such as wearing face masks, physical distancing, limiting social gatherings, and lockdown for small and large territories. There were unprecedented efforts to develop effective vaccines, which are anticipated to have an indispensable role in controlling the disease. A herd immunity of approximately 60–72% is required to block virus transmission [4,5]. The newly developed vaccines have been subject to numerous misconceptions, mistrust in scientific information, and challenges in planning, all of which are to be expected to accompany new discoveries [6]. The rapid spread of information and misinformation in the face of a multiplicity of social media outlets resulted in creation of an “infodemic” [7]. Vaccine hesitancy poses a real threat to efforts to control the pandemic globally [8,9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion