Attitudes and Knowledge of European Medical Students and Early Graduates about Vaccination and Self-Reported Vaccination Coverage—Multinational Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Vaccination is one of the most useful preventive interventions in healthcare. The purpose of our study was to gain overview of the opinions, knowledge, and engagement in vaccination practices among medical students (MS) and junior doctors (JD) in Europe. The survey was distributed from March 2016 until August 2016 via the e-mail and social media of the European Medical Students’ Association. In total, 1821 responses from MS and JD from 34 countries in the European region were analysed. The majority of respondents agreed that vaccines are useful (98.7%) and effective (97.2%). Although the necessity of revaccination was supported by 99.2%, only 68.0% of the respondents went through with it. Even though the potential benefit of the flu vaccination seems to be acknowledged by our participants, only 22.1% of MS and JD declared getting the flu shot every or every other season. MS and JD were in favour of specific mandatory vaccination for medical staff (86.0%) and medical students (82.7%). Furthermore, we analysed the self-reported vaccination coverage of our participants regarding 19 vaccines. Of the respondents, 89.5% claimed to provide advice about vaccination to their friends and family. In conclusion, European MS and JD have a very positive attitude towards vaccination. However, their behaviour and knowledge demonstrate certain gaps which should be further addressed in medical education.

Sentiments Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination among Graduate Students in Singapore

“…Another limitation is the greatly uneven distribution of respondents who are citizens of the different countries as well as the different fields of studies limiting statistical comparisons amongst some combinations. Postgraduate students pursuing Medical Sciences in Singapore were prioritized to be or have already been vaccinated at the point of the survey, leading to very low response from this group of students to the survey (Figure 1A), hence possibly skewing the results as these students are likely to be amongst the group of postgraduate students who are most willing to be vaccinated as evident from previous studies [19,37,38,68], as well as Figure 2H. Another potential limitation is that this study only examined postgraduate students from a single University which may not represent all postgraduate students in Singapore.…”

Influenza Vaccination Coverage and Intention to Receive Hypothetical Ebola and COVID-19 Vaccines among Medical Students

“…Although this apparent increase in the vaccination rate among medical students is encouraging, the vaccination rate itself remains insufficient. Previous studies investigating influenza vaccination coverage among medical students worldwide reported vaccination rates varying from 4.7% in Iran to 86.3% in Canada [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Some studies found that clinical medical students were more likely to be vaccinated than those still in pre-clinical education [ 17 , 19 ], but this was not confirmed by subsequent investigations [ 13 , 25 ].…”

“…If people are motivated to receive vaccinations as students, they are likely to continue being vaccinated as HCWs in the future [ 11 ]. Studies show that vaccination coverage among medical students ranges from 4.7% in Iran to 86.3% in Canada (in various seasons) [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Influenza vaccines are well-known, safe, and recommended by medical authorities, yet only a fraction of Polish medical students decide to be vaccinated.…”

Seasonal Influenza and Low Flu Vaccination Coverage as Important Factors Modifying the Costs and Availability of Hospital Services in Poland: A Retrospective Comparative Study

“…On the contrary, the rate of immunization is low, even in the case of Polish medical students who are future healthcare workers, although they have good knowledge of the flu vaccine and demonstrate positive attitudes toward vaccines [ 26 ]. This phenomenon is common for many European countries, where the majority medical students and medical doctors declare very positive general attitudes toward vaccinations, but they rarely support them with behaviors and vaccinate themselves [ 27 ]. The literature data suggest that in cases of healthcare workers, multiple factors need to be dealt with in this context, including professional duty and ethics, the need for self-determination, vaccine hesitance, or even conscientious refusal [ 28 ].…”