Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among health professions students in Vietnam

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy or refusal has actually been a threat to global health. In the current situation, health professions students are at risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection during their internship at healthcare facilities. Furthermore, those future healthcare workers will advise people to accept the COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, the attitude of students towards vaccine acceptance and the predicting factors needs to be elucidated. This study applied the Health Belief Model to determine predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among health professions students. Methods Nine hundred eleven students participated in a cross-sectional online survey in Vietnam. Data were collected from 1st April to 30th June 2021. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 20.0 with Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests before executing multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of the COVID-19 vaccine acceptability Results The overall vaccine acceptance, hesitancy, and refusal rates were 58% (95% CI: 54.7% - 61.3%), 40.4% (95% CI: 37.2% - 43.7%) and 1.5% (95% CI: 0.8% - 2.6%), respectively. Regarding vaccination hesitancy, a predictor such as "Receiving recent flu shots” had a negative correlation, whereas "Vaccines have little efficacy & serious adverse effects” (Perceived barriers), nationality, and majors were positive correlates. For refusal, "Unvaccinated students feasibly infected COVID-19 during hospital internship” (Perceived susceptibility) was a negative correlate. For predicting both hesitancy and refusal, "Mass media appreciating effectiveness and safety of vaccines" (Cues to action), and " Health professions students get serious complications of COVID-19 if not vaccinated" (Perceived severity) were negative predictors. In contrast, "Manufacturers do not disclose adverse effects of vaccines" (Cues to action), and "Adverse effect causes death" (Perceived barrier) were recognized as positive predictors. Strong Health Belief Model predictors of vaccine refusal were "Manufacturers do not disclose adverse effects of vaccines" (Cues to action) with OR= 5.299(95% CI: 1.687-16.641, p= 0.004), and "Adverse effect causes death" (Perceived barrier) with OR= 10.255 (95% CI = 3.528-29.814, p= 0.0005). Conclusion Health professions students' acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination might be based on the perceived susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19, concerns about vaccine efficacy and safety, and the influence levels of information from various sources. Health education and measures to prevent the harmful effects of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation could potentially improve the acceptance rate of the COVID-19 vaccine

Behavioural and social drivers of COVID-19 vaccination in Vietnam: a scoping review

“…Vietnam succeeded in risk communication regarding COVID-19 with diversified communication of information through various channels, including television, online newspapers, social media and broadcasts. 24 We found that most respondents would get vaccinated if they were recommended by a health worker, which is similar to UNICEF’s findings that health workers were rated as the most trusted source of information. 50 Individuals with better information access (6–16 channels and daily) were more likely to accept all types of available vaccines.…”

“…Deployment timing played an important role as for COVID-19 vaccines, the participants were more willing to be immunised if they felt they were being exposed to higher risk of infection and mortality. 24 25 Mass vaccination for adolescents and general populations occurred in July and November 2021 respectively, during the fourth wave when the highly infectious and lethal Delta variant spread throughout Vietnam. These circumstances could have contributed to higher vaccination uptake among the two groups.…”

“…The confidence in vaccine benefits and safety were measured differently in the studies, details can be found in online supplemental appendix 2. Of 19 studies reporting the confidence in the safety of vaccine, the degree of confidence was relatively high if vaccine recipients were adults (52%-98%, 12 studies) (figure 3), [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] less if recipients were children aged 5-11 years (51%-80%, 4 studies), [38][39][40][41] and significantly lower if recipients were children aged under 5 years (33% and 44%, 2 studies). 42 43 Slightly lower rates of confidence in vaccine safety compared with vaccine effectiveness were reported in each study.…”

Application of behavioral change theory and models on COVID-19 preventive behaviors, worldwide: A systematic review

“…The most typical preventive behaviors such as planning to get vaccinated, accepting vaccinations, wearing a face mask, keeping social distance, washing hands with soap and water, using hand sanitizer, self-quarantining, staying at home, not touching one's face, and not going to public meetings. In this review, COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was positively correlated with all HBM constructs (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived barrier, perceived benefit, cues to action, and self-efficacy), 23,[28][29][30][31][32] and constructs were also correlated with behavioral intention to engage in COVID-19 preventive behavior. 24,[33][34][35][36][37] The application of TPB to COVID-19 preventive behaviors is based on 27 articles included in this systematic review, and the dimensions of TPB (attitude, social norm, and perceived behavioral control) were significantly associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors.…”

The Psychological Antecedents to COVID-19 Vaccination among Community Pharmacists in Khartoum State, Sudan

“…Various models have been conceptualized to explain behavioral and physiological determinants of vaccine acceptance [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. The 5C model of psychological antecedents to vaccination is a framework that was developed to explain the various factors that influence an individual’s decision to get vaccinated [ 22 ].…”