Version 1
: Received: 28 July 2023 / Approved: 28 July 2023 / Online: 31 July 2023 (02:20:29 CEST)
How to cite:
Rangelova, V.; Raycheva, R.; Kevorkyan, A.; Ivanova, N.; Baev, M.; Sariyan, S.; Pamukova, N.; Karcheva, M.; Paunov, T. COVID-19 Vaccination and Potential Predictors for Vaccination Among Students in Bulgarian Medical Universities. Preprints2023, 2023072002. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.2002.v1
Rangelova, V.; Raycheva, R.; Kevorkyan, A.; Ivanova, N.; Baev, M.; Sariyan, S.; Pamukova, N.; Karcheva, M.; Paunov, T. COVID-19 Vaccination and Potential Predictors for Vaccination Among Students in Bulgarian Medical Universities. Preprints 2023, 2023072002. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.2002.v1
Rangelova, V.; Raycheva, R.; Kevorkyan, A.; Ivanova, N.; Baev, M.; Sariyan, S.; Pamukova, N.; Karcheva, M.; Paunov, T. COVID-19 Vaccination and Potential Predictors for Vaccination Among Students in Bulgarian Medical Universities. Preprints2023, 2023072002. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.2002.v1
APA Style
Rangelova, V., Raycheva, R., Kevorkyan, A., Ivanova, N., Baev, M., Sariyan, S., Pamukova, N., Karcheva, M., & Paunov, T. (2023). COVID-19 Vaccination and Potential Predictors for Vaccination Among Students in Bulgarian Medical Universities. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.2002.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Rangelova, V., Milena Karcheva and Tsonko Paunov. 2023 "COVID-19 Vaccination and Potential Predictors for Vaccination Among Students in Bulgarian Medical Universities" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.2002.v1
Abstract
University students, particularly those in the healthcare disciplines, constitute a category of particular interest in regard to COVID-19 vaccines and the attitudes to vaccination, as their future professional role will enable them to inform and educate citizens regarding vaccination. The objectives of the study were to investigate the vaccination coverage with a COVID-19 vaccine among students from different degree programs at the Medical universities in Bulgaria behaviors and attitudes toward vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine. A prospective cross-sectional study in the period September 2021- March 2022 was conducted. Information on demographics, university program, year of study, general attitudes and behavior towards vaccines and attitudes and personal experience with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines were collected. The chi-square test was used to test for associations and binominal logistic regression was used to identify possible predictors for vaccination. A total of 3050 students with a median age of 22 years, predominantly female took part in the study. Three-thirds of the students (73.5%) have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy in both group of students were the fear of side effects and the doubts about the safety of the vaccines although non-vaccinated students significantly more frequently express those fears. Respondents who considered to have: a) limited access to sufficient information to inform COVID-19 vaccine uptake; b) lack of public awareness and education campaigns about effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines; c) insufficient information about COVID-19 vaccines during the University education; and d) had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis were less likely to be vaccinated. Students who have not completed the mandatory immunization cycle according to country schedule were also less likely to have completed COVID-19 vaccination. The students showed an overall positive attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccines. Promoting informational campaigns that emphasize the vaccine's safety will be more effective to further increase the vaccination coverage with COVID-19 vaccines.
Keywords
COVID-19; vaccines; hesitancy; attitudes; medical students; healthcare workers
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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