Students’ Views on Vaccination against COVID-19 Virus and Trust in Media Information about the Vaccine: The Case of Serbia

Abstract

Mass immunization of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia began in January 2021. Information on the significance, manner, advantages and consequences of this process was intensively distributed through all communication channels, with the media playing a key role. According to the data of the official institutions for the public health of Serbia, by July 2021 the lowest percentage of vaccinated population was among those between the ages of 18 and 24—only 15% of this demographic had received the vaccine by this point. Given the low turnout of young people for vaccination, in this paper we investigated the general attitude of students in Serbia, as a special category of young people, towards the vaccine against the COVID-19 virus, as well as their attitude regarding information about vaccination in the media. Research was conducted on a sample of 345 students at the University of Novi Sad. The results of the research showed that 42% of students had not been vaccinated and did not plan to do so, 37.4% had received at least one dose of vaccine and 20.6% had not been vaccinated even though they planned to do so. Students who were vaccinated had more confidence in information provided through media channels than those who were not vaccinated. Therefore, it can be concluded that encouraging students to decide in favor of vaccination against the COVID-19 virus should come from the universities where they study as well as the media.

Acceptance and Factors Influencing Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine in a Romanian Population

“…According to the results of the survey, 39.2% were vaccinated and 25.6% wanted vaccines; nevertheless, 29.5% indicated hostility towards vaccination. Similar results were recorded in other studies that were conducted in Romania [ 23 , 27 ] and in other Eastern European countries [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. At the time of performing the survey, between 10 May and 31 May 2021, proof of vaccination was not mandatory in Romania, and it was not prohibited in Romania to visit any public locations without being vaccinated.…”

The anatomy of COVID‐19‐related conspiracy beliefs: Exploring their nomological network on a nationally representative sample

“…Nevertheless, there were no reasons to believe that the participants were insincere when they reported their vaccination status. Besides, the number of participants vaccinated in our study matches the data on the population vaccination rate in the same period (September 2021), reported by Šiđanin et al (2021). Finally, the reasons for the absence of correlations between distress and vaccination could be in the fact that the scales tapping anxiety, depression and COVID‐19‐related distress require reporting symptoms in the last 7–14 days, creating thus a possibility that many of our participants who had been vaccinated before these two weeks have their heightened anxiety & depression already decreased in the time of testing.…”

How Much Collectivism Is There in Young Adults’ Collectivism? Vaccination Against COVID-19 in Serbia

“…Another study shows that young Serbians who are against COVID-19 vaccines also trust the scientific authority less, incline toward conspiratorial beliefs, and use the ‘appeal to nature’ argument (i.e., trusting natural immunity to fight the pandemic) (Žeželj et al, 2021). Young Serbians who placed more trust in traditional media were more likely to vaccinate (Šiđanin et al, 2021). At the same time, students generally reported being confused about conflicting information on whether to vaccinate and lacking expert-led programs on TV (Mladenović, 2021).…”