Vaccine Hesitancy in College Students

(1) Background: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has become an increasingly important topic and has created significant concerns in public health. It is important to explore vaccine hesitancy among college students as they have been identified to be a high-risk group for COVID-19 t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccines (Basel) 2023-07, Vol.11 (7), p.1243
Main Authors: Gilbert-Esparza, Emily, Brady, Amelia, Haas, Sierrah, Wittstruck, Heather, Miller, Jennifer, Kang, Qing, Mulcahy, Ellyn R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
College campuses
College students
Colleges & universities
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Disease transmission
Health aspects
Health behavior
Health literacy
Influenza
Minority & ethnic groups
Pandemics
Public health
Qualitative analysis
Risk groups
Social aspects
Socioeconomic factors
Students
Undergraduate study
vaccine hesitancy
Vaccines
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Summary:(1) Background: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has become an increasingly important topic and has created significant concerns in public health. It is important to explore vaccine hesitancy among college students as they have been identified to be a high-risk group for COVID-19 transmission. This study aims to investigate COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in college students on a midsized midwestern university campus. (2) Methods: Data were collected from 311 undergraduate and graduate college students during June and July 2021. Participants completed a survey on COVID-19 vaccine behaviors, perceptions, and opinions. Quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed to identify vaccine hesitancy and influencing factors in the student population. (3) Results: The results of this study demonstrated significant relationships between older and younger undergraduate students (OR > 1, < 0.05), students who received a yearly influenza vaccine and those that did not ( < 0.05), and students who had a previous COVID-19 infection and those that did not (OR > 1, < 0.05). We also determined a significant difference between some racial/ethnic groups and vaccine hesitancy status. (4) Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy exists on college campuses, and is influenced by age and student status, influenza vaccination status, previous COVID-19 infection, and race/ethnicity.
ISSN:2076-393X
2076-393X
DOI:10.3390/vaccines11071243