ISSN: 2578-5001
Authors: Akinwaare MO* and Akingbade OA
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had extremely detrimental effects on worldwide business, education, health, and tourism. Students in tertiary institutions of learning are also confronted with new challenges, and tertiary institutions host a large population of young people. Hence, any vaccine reluctance among this group could be disastrous and increase the probability of COVID-19 infection in society. This therefore necessitates the need for the study as the study seeks to assess the status of COVID-19 vaccination among students in tertiary educational institutions. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to assess the status of COVID-19 vaccination among undergraduates in the University of Ibadan and The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria. Through multi-stage sampling, 348 students from both institutions were recruited into the study. A self-administered questionnaire was adopted. Data was analyzed by the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25.0. Results: Only 52.6% of the participants have received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Only 30.3% of those who have been vaccinated are females, while 60.7% are males. A total of 56% of the participants are positively disposed to the COVID-19 vaccine. Half of the respondents opined that COVID-19 might have unwanted side effects, while 24.1 perceived the vaccine is unsafe. A total of 91.6% of those who have been vaccinated did so because it is free of charge, while 60.3% of those who refused to be vaccinated reported being worried about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Conclusion: Many of the students in tertiary education institutions are yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite their positive disposition to the vaccination, majority of them refused to be vaccinated for various reasons. It is therefore recommended that effective interventions to promote the uptake of vaccination among this group should be planned and implemented.
Keywords: Perception; Vaccination; COVID-19; Students; Nigeria
