Awareness, Coverage, and Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccination Among Undergraduate Students in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2023.2376Keywords:
COVID-19, Vaccines, Vaccination Coverage, Nigeria, Education, Medical, UndergraduateAbstract
BACKGROUND: With the resumption of physical learning activities across Nigeria's higher education institutions, tertiary-level students, a prioritized group according to the WHO SAGE in the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines, face circumstances that necessitate widespread vaccination coverage among them. This is critical in view of vaccine hesitancy attitude and low vaccination coverage that has been reported among this subpopulation and the larger Nigerian populace. Surmounting these barriers is necessary to achieving a successful national vaccination program and for future pandemic preparedness and response. To this end, this study aimed to assess Nigerian undergraduate students' knowledge, coverage, and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of Nigerian undergraduates was conducted in October 2021, using an online questionnaire and a non-probability convenient sampling technique. The questionnaire included sections on respondents' demographic characteristics, COVID-19 vaccine awareness, coverage, barriers, and recommendations. A total of 326 respondents electronically completed and returned the informed consent form along with the questionnaire. Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 25 were used to code and analyze the data, respectively.
RESULTS: The overall awareness of COVID-19 vaccines among the sampled students were high, with 62.3% having good knowledge, 20.9% having average knowledge, and 16.9% having poor knowledge. However, the majority of the respondents (81.3%) had not received the vaccines. The most prominent barrier to vaccination was misinformation about vaccine safety (23.6%). Opening vaccination centers on campuses (18.6%), demonstrating vaccine effectiveness and safety (18.7%), and organizing awareness campaigns (17.2%) were the most frequently recommended actions.
CONCLUSION: Most respondents were aware of the availability and potential benefits of COVID-19 vaccines; however, coverage remained extremely low. Our findings emphasize the importance of addressing vaccination barriers by public health stakeholders to achieve optimal COVID-19 vaccine coverage.
Metrics
References
Not applicable
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Fortune Benjamin Effiong, Ibrahim Adebayo Hassan, Dimeji Abdulsobur Olawuyi, Chiemela Prosper Ogbonna, Jeremiah Babatunde Araoye, Esther E Bassey, Kenneth Emeka Enwerem, Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site; with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
- The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from the Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
Enforcement of copyright
The IJMS takes the protection of copyright very seriously.
If the IJMS discovers that you have used its copyright materials in contravention of the license above, the IJMS may bring legal proceedings against you seeking reparation and an injunction to stop you using those materials. You could also be ordered to pay legal costs.
If you become aware of any use of the IJMS' copyright materials that contravenes or may contravene the license above, please report this by email to contact@ijms.org
Infringing material
If you become aware of any material on the website that you believe infringes your or any other person's copyright, please report this by email to contact@ijms.org
