COVID-19 vaccine acceptance or hesitancy among entrants to a Peruvian public university during the third pandemic wave

Avila J.; Bello-Vidal C.; La Rosa J.L. · Anales de la Facultad de Medicina (2023) · DOI: 10.15381/anales.v84i4.25067

Resumen

Introduction. University students influence their family and community decisions in favor of vaccination. Objective. To identify the main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance or hesitancy among university entrants Methods. A cross-sectional study in a sample of 408 students. We asked whether the student had completed the three doses the COVID-19 vaccine and the main reason for vaccine acceptance or hesitancy. A descriptive analysis was performed, the chi-square test and Fisher’s exact were applied. Results. 85.5% accepted vaccination mainly because they did not want to infect family members (38.1%) and did not want to get sick (27.8%). 14.5% were hesitancy especially due to long waiting times in vaccination centers (37.3%) and distance from vaccination centers (13.6%). Conclusions. In the university students studied, the fear of disease drove COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and inaccessibility to health services generated vaccine hesitancy among university entrants.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal