TY - JOUR
T1 - Low Prevalence of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Students Across Health Science Disciplines in Texas
AU - Hosek, Meredith G.
AU - Chidester, Autumn B.
AU - Gelfond, Jonathan
AU - Taylor, Barbara S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank the University of Texas Health San Antonio COVID-19 Vaccine Assessment and Access Task Force and the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education for their support of this study. Special thanks to Dr. Patrick Ramsey and Dr. Joshua Hanson for their review of the manuscript and to the student body for taking the time to respond to the survey. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. This research was reviewed by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (Protocol HSC 20200916 N) and was determined to not meet the definition of human subject research on December 16, 2020. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Introduction: Although the development of COVID-19 vaccines represents a triumph of modern medicine, studies suggest vaccine hesitancy exists among key populations, including healthcare professionals. In December 2020, a large academic medical center offered COVID-19 vaccination to 3439 students in medicine, nursing, dentistry, and other health professions. With limited vaccine hesitancy research in this population, this study evaluates the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare students, including predictors of hesitancy and top concerns with vaccination. Methods: The authors distributed a cross-sectional survey to all healthcare students (n = 3,439) from 12/17/2020 to 12/23/2020. The survey collected age, sex, perceived risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 without vaccination, perceived impact on health if infected with SARS-CoV-2, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine concerns. In 2021, logistic regressions identified risk factors associated with hesitancy. Results: The response rate was 30.0% (n = 1030) with median age of 25.0. Of respondents, 19.4% were hesitant to accept COVID-19 vaccination, while 66.6% reported at least one concern with the vaccine. Medical discipline, history of COVID-19 infection, perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, and perceived severity of illness if infected were predictor variables of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (p < 0.05). Age, sex, and exposure to in-person clinical care were not predictive of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions: Fewer students reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than expected from surveys on the general public and on healthcare workers. Continued research is needed to evaluate shifting attitudes around COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare professionals and students. With COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy a growing concern in young adults, a survey of this size and breadth will be helpful to other academic medical centers interested in vaccinating their students and to persons interested in leveraging predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for targeted intervention.
AB - Introduction: Although the development of COVID-19 vaccines represents a triumph of modern medicine, studies suggest vaccine hesitancy exists among key populations, including healthcare professionals. In December 2020, a large academic medical center offered COVID-19 vaccination to 3439 students in medicine, nursing, dentistry, and other health professions. With limited vaccine hesitancy research in this population, this study evaluates the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare students, including predictors of hesitancy and top concerns with vaccination. Methods: The authors distributed a cross-sectional survey to all healthcare students (n = 3,439) from 12/17/2020 to 12/23/2020. The survey collected age, sex, perceived risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 without vaccination, perceived impact on health if infected with SARS-CoV-2, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine concerns. In 2021, logistic regressions identified risk factors associated with hesitancy. Results: The response rate was 30.0% (n = 1030) with median age of 25.0. Of respondents, 19.4% were hesitant to accept COVID-19 vaccination, while 66.6% reported at least one concern with the vaccine. Medical discipline, history of COVID-19 infection, perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, and perceived severity of illness if infected were predictor variables of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (p < 0.05). Age, sex, and exposure to in-person clinical care were not predictive of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions: Fewer students reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than expected from surveys on the general public and on healthcare workers. Continued research is needed to evaluate shifting attitudes around COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare professionals and students. With COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy a growing concern in young adults, a survey of this size and breadth will be helpful to other academic medical centers interested in vaccinating their students and to persons interested in leveraging predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for targeted intervention.
KW - COVID-19
KW - COVID-19 vaccines
KW - Health occupations students
KW - Vaccination refusal
KW - Vaccine hesitancy
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jvacx.2022.100154
DO - 10.1016/j.jvacx.2022.100154
M3 - Article
C2 - 35280703
AN - SCOPUS:85126575390
SN - 2590-1362
VL - 10
JO - Vaccine: X
JF - Vaccine: X
M1 - 100154
ER -