Vaccination among Polish university students. Knowledge, beliefs and anti-vaccination attitudes

Abstract

Anti-vaccination movement has existed as long as the vaccines themselves, but its mode of action and social influences evolved over time. Such attitude with no doubt has negative impact on vaccination rates and eradication of infectious diseases. In this study, we used an online survey to examine vaccination attitudes of Polish university students of various degree and specialties. A total of 1,386 questionnaires were completed, among them 617 from students attending medical schools and 769 from students of non-medical schools. Up to 95.24% (N = 1320) of the study subjects, among them 98.70% and 92.46% of students of medical and non-medical specialties, respectively, declared willingness to vaccinate their children. 47.19% (N = 654) of participants have a contact with anti-vaccination propaganda at least once in a lifetimes. 42.64% (N = 591) of respondents were aware of the existence of anti-vaccination movements; 45.35% (N = 414) of participants, including 306 (51.52%) and 108 (33.86%) students of medical and non-medical disciplines, respectively, considered such movements as a negative phenomenon. Vaccination attitudes of students from medical and non-medical universities differed considerably. Vaccination knowledge and awareness among the students from non-medical universities were rather poor, markedly lower than in the students of medical disciplines. Nevertheless, irrespective of their major, Polish students have considerable knowledge gaps with regards to vaccination and need additional education in this matter.

Medical Students and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination: Attitude and Behaviors

“…Healthcare workers are responsible for providing necessary information regarding vaccine safety and dispelling doubts concerning its use. Therefore, an appropriate level of knowledge in the field of vaccinology is of great importance [ 1 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Previous medical literature indicates that despite vaccinology being part of mandatory academic subjects in the medical school curriculum, most students do not consider their knowledge sufficient [ 1 , 17 ].…”

“…This is supported by a study on MS in France [ 1 ]. The lack of knowledge regarding vaccination hence appears to be a large-scale problem affecting higher education across the whole of Europe [ 1 , 17 ].…”

“…The MS appear to have significantly lower fears with respect to vaccination. It has been proposed that this may be due to their greater knowledge and realization in this area acquired in the educational process [ 17 ]. Still, regardless of the group, the strongest fears among all the respondents were those concerning the long-term effects of vaccines.…”

“…It may lead to a decline in vaccination rates [ 31 , 32 ]. The spread of such theories is most likely a result of insufficient vaccinology classes throughout the whole education process as well as the wide reach of conspiracy theories on social media [ 17 , 33 , 34 ].…”

Vacinação e fatores associados entre trabalhadores da saúde

“…Como os indicadores recentes do Brasil mostram elevação no número de casos de doenças transmissíveis 4,5,23 , maior relevância adquire a vacinação dos trabalhadores de saúde, seja devido à redução do número de pessoas vulneráveis (com potencial elevado de contaminação de outras pessoas,…”