Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 13;49(1):37.
doi: 10.1186/s41182-021-00331-1.

Acceptance of the coronavirus disease-2019 vaccine among medical students in Uganda

Andrew Marvin Kanyike  1 , Ronald Olum  2 , Jonathan Kajjimu  3 , Daniel Ojilong  4 , Gabriel Madut Akech  4 , Dianah Rhoda Nassozi  5 , Drake Agira  6 , Nicholas Kisaakye Wamala  7 , Asaph Asiimwe  8 , Dissan Matovu  9 , Ann Babra Nakimuli  10 , Musilim Lyavala  11 , Patricia Kulwenza  11 , Joshua Kiwumulo  12 , Felix Bongomin  13   14
Affiliations

Acceptance of the coronavirus disease-2019 vaccine among medical students in Uganda

Andrew Marvin Kanyike et al. Trop Med Health. .

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is still a major global threat for which vaccination remains the ultimate solution. Uganda reported 40,751 cases and 335 deaths as of 9 April 2021 and started its vaccination program among priority groups like health workers, teachers, those with chronic diseases among others in early March 2021. Unanimous uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is required to subsequently avert its spread; therefore, we assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptability, hesitancy, and associated factors among medical students in Uganda.

Methods: This study employed an online descriptive cross-sectional survey among medical students across 10 medical schools in Uganda. A structured questionnaire via Google Form was conveniently sent to eligible participants via WhatsApp. Each medical school had a coordinator who consistently shared the data tool in the WhatsApp groups. Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression were used to assess the association between vaccine acceptability with demographics, COVID-19 risk perception, and vaccine hesitancy.

Results: We surveyed 600 medical students, 377 (62.8%) were male. COVID-19 vaccine acceptability was 37.3% and vaccine hesitancy 30.7%. Factors associated with vaccine acceptability were being male (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.9, 95% CI 1.3-2.9, p=0.001) and being single (aOR= 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.9, p=0.022). Very high (aOR= 3.5, 95% CI 1.7-6.9, p<0.001) or moderate (aOR =2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.1, p=0.008) perceived risk of getting COVID-19 in the future, receiving any vaccine in the past 5 years (aOR= 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.5, p=0.017), and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9, p=0.036).

Conclusions: This study revealed low levels of acceptance towards the COVID-19 vaccine among medical students, low self-perceived risks of COVID-19, and many had relied on social media that provided them with negative information. This poses an evident risk on the battle towards COVID-19 in the future especially when these future health professions are expected to be influencing decisions of the general public towards the same.

Keywords: COVID-19; Medical students; Vaccine acceptance; Vaccine hesitancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sources of negative information on the COVID-19 vaccine among medical student
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
COVID-19 vaccine brand preference among medical students in Uganda (N=224)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Qiao S, Friedman DB, Tam CC, Zeng C, Li X. Vaccine acceptance among college students in South Carolina: Do information sources and trust in information make a difference? medRxiv Prepr Serv Heal Sci. 2020; Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33300004%0A, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=PMC7724671. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Worldometer . COVID-19 Virus Pandemic Updates. 2021.
    1. Ministry of Health Uganda. MOH COVID-19 Information Portal [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2020 Jun 7]. Available from: https://covid19.gou.go.ug/?pg=docs&d=press
    1. WHO Solidarity Trial Consortium. Repurposed Antiviral Drugs for Covid-19 — Interim WHO Solidarity Trial Results. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(6):497–511. - PMC - PubMed
    1. The RECOVERY Collaborative Group. Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19 — preliminary report. N Engl J Med. 2020:1–11. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources