Past Refusals, Reasons and Future of COVID Vaccinations in Colleges

Abstract

A significant portion of the adult and college student populations have been observed to be reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19. COVID-19 is still a threat and the unvaccinated students may yet pose a risk of spreading the disease in the case of a new variant. Many experts believe that COVID is here to stay and new variants are likely to come around. Thus, there is a need to examine the causes of vaccination refusal among college students so that efforts could be made to increase the vaccination rates if needed. Sources of information were classified into three categories: Scientific, Friends/Relatives, and Social Media. Results indicated that “No Faith in Government or Vaccine” was the dominant reason. Differences were noted with respect to gender. Refusal Reasonings also were correlated related to the source of information. The majority of respondents who refused the vaccine would reportedly refuse future COVID-related vaccines. This research may aid in future efforts to reduce reluctance among college-age students to accept the vaccine.