Impact of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Perceptions Regarding the Covid-19 Vaccine Among Students at A Tertiary Institution in Kenya

Abstract

COVID-19 vaccination was authorized as a preventive measure due to its proven effectiveness in reducing infection, severity, and mortality rates. mRNA-based vaccines, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, work by utilizing a small piece of the virus's genetic material called messenger RNA (mRNA). Viral vector-based vaccines, such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, use a harmless virus to deliver a modified version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus's genetic material into cells. As of June 2021, COVID-19 vaccines approved to be safe and effective by the WHO included: AstraZeneca (oxford vaccine), Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer (BioNTech), Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. Both mRNA-based and viral vector-based vaccines have shown high efficacy in preventing COVID-19 and reducing the severity of the disease. We assessed how knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines influenced uptake by students at a tertiary institution in Kenya. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in Kabarak University-Main Campus. The sampling procedure employed was the convenience sampling method. The data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire on 385 students and analyzed using SPSS. Vaccination was not entirely successful (at threshold) in Kenya due to insufficient public education (benefits or side effects); inadequate health care professionals; myths & misconceptions (including the risk of infertility), opinions & beliefs (clinical trials short time to detect long term side effects like malignancies); resistance (fear for death or infection, fear of expired vaccines administration); mistrust on government (forced, threats by leaders, a charade to donations, benefits government, research on Kenyans) & mistrust on the sources of vaccines (China, Russia), reluctance, procrastination, negligence & ignorance (not embraced, negative attitude to westernization, the pandemic is over!); infection even after being vaccinated and the dosage forms available injection, fear for syringes, oral preferred. The study results revealed that 15.1% strongly agreed that a vaccine is important to end the COVID-19 pandemic; 33.5% agreed that a vaccine is important to end the COVID-19 pandemic; 33.2% were undecided that a vaccine is important to end the COVID-19 pandemic. The study findings showed that 53.0% had been vaccinated as compared to 47.0% who had not been vaccinated. That is medical students (pharmacy and medicine) had higher rates of vaccine uptake compared to Engineering students.