Evaluation of Vaccination Level and Vaccine Literacy in Vocational Health School Students

Abstract

Purpose: As of 2022, the pandemic COVID-19 has entered a phase of decline thanks to vaccination efforts. In this sense, it is important to determine the vaccination status of young people studying in departments involved in providing health services to the community and to know their thoughts about vaccination. In this study, we aimed to investigate the COVID-19 immunization status and immunization literacy of students at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University-Vocational Health School (AYBU-VHS). Methods: The sample size of the study was calculated with a confidence interval of 95%, α=0.05, d=5%, and an unknown frequency of 50%, and the sample size was set as a minimum of 384. A questionnaire consisting of 4 parts [sociodemographic variables, information about COVID-19 (vaccination status, presence of chronic diseases, etc), COVID-19 knowledge level with 10 questions, and COVID-19 vaccine literacy scale] was used as the data source for the study. Study groups were determined by the dependent variable of having at least one vaccination or being fully vaccinated. Results: 77.8% of the students (N:450) were female (n:350), the mean age was 20.37±3.64 years, 3.1% (n:14) were not vaccinated, and 14.0% (n:63) were not fully vaccinated. When analyzing the group's information about the vaccine COVID-19, unvaccinated individuals agreed at a higher rate that the vaccine COVID-19 could not be effective (p < 0.001), but agreed at a lower rate that the vaccine COVID-19 could also protect against other diseases such as influenza (p=0.002). It was found that individuals with at least one vaccination and fully vaccinated had higher vaccination literacy than unvaccinated and fully unvaccinated individuals (p=0.011; p=0.004). Conclusion: Nearly 20% of students are still not fully vaccinated and there are deficits in attitudes toward vaccination. In addition, the vaccination competency of the fully vaccinated is higher. These findings are crucial to determine the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of young people regarding vaccination and to take the necessary precautions.