Utilization of COVID-19 Vaccine among Health Science Students in a Resource Limited Setting

Abstract

Abiy Tasew Dubale

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 infection rates are accelerating in Africa, including in Ethiopia, and the first case of COVID-19 in Ethiopia was registered on March 13, 2020. In Ethiopia, the number of COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia has continued to increase from 3 January 2020 to 17 February 2022; there have been 467,860 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 7,429 deaths, reported to WHO.

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the utilization and predictors of COVID-19 vaccine by health science students in Mettu University, Ethiopia.

Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 health science students at Mettu University from February 14 to 17, 2022. STATA 14.0 was used to analyze the data. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR), with 95% CI and p-value <0.05 were used to declare significant factors associated with utilization of COVID-19 vaccine.

Results: In the study, a total of 385 (91.01%) health science students were included. The majority of respondents 225 (58.4%) were Male. The overall prevalence of utilization of the COVID-19 vaccine was 58.7% (95 CI:56.03, 60.1). In this study, 71.12% of the participants were good knowledge COVID-19 vaccine, and 62.6% of the respondents’ were a favorable attitude toward the utilization of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusion: The utilization of COVID-19 vaccine in Mettu university students was slightly high. Being female, being good knowledge, being a favorable attitude, mass media and social media information sources were positively associated with COVID-19 vaccine utilization.