University students occupy a strategic position in the spread of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) as they regularly travel around different locations with differing prevalence of the disease. This study was carried out to evaluate the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among university staffs and students in Southeastern universities of Nigeria. Self-administered anonymous online survey was conducted between 28th February and 30th June 2021, using various online social media handles. A total of 769 students and staff members participated in the study. Descriptive statistics for socio-demographics and other parameters were performed. The relationships between tested parameters were ascertained using bivariate Pearson’s correlation. Multiple linear regression analyses were done to determine associations. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS statistics 23 and P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant at 95% CI. The respondents were 48.1% female and 51.9% male with a mean age of 24.4 years. The acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccine was 25.6% and 82.2% of participants expressed concern about the side effects of the vaccine. While the age, gender and states of respondents were positively associated, their faculties were negatively associated with risk perception of COVID-19 vaccine. Also, the various faculties, university affiliations (P = 0.029), and age (P = 0.023) of the respondents were negatively associated, while the State of the respondents (P = 0.01) was positively associated with attitudes towards general COVID-19 vaccination. There is need for more robust information and better dissemination of such among the public to boost their confidence in COVID-19 vaccination.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are regarded as role models regarding health-related issues, including vaccination. Therefore, it is essential to identify the predictors for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among them. A cross-sectional study to assess the risk perception, attitudes and knowledge of HCWs toward COVID-19 vaccination was carried out. A total of 710 responses were received between September 2021 and March 2022, from HCWs in the Northern, Western and Eastern regions of Nigeria. Cross tabulations were performed to determine statistical relations between sociodemographic variables, knowledge, attitudes and risk perceptions concerning COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predictive variables for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Statistical analyses were performed and P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant at a CI of 95%. Results showed that 59.3% of the participants were amenable to COVID-19 vaccines. Multinomial regression analysis identified 14 variables at α < 0.05 as predictors for vaccine acceptance. Male HCWs were 2.8 times more likely to accept the vaccine than their female counterparts. HCWs that were knowledgeable of the different kinds of vaccines, were willing to recommend the vaccines to their patients, believed that the timing of COVID-19 vaccination was appropriate and had recent vaccination history within three years were 1.6, 24.9, 4.4 and 3.1 times more likely to take COVID-19 vaccine than those not sure. The study found a relatively high trust (51.3%) in the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) for information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, the NDCD should disseminate more robust insights regarding the safety profiles of various COVID-19 vaccines.
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