Intention to vaccinate covid-19 vaccine and associated Factors among jimma university under graduate students

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 had been a severe public health hazard globally. To tackle the pandemic many preventive measures were applied. Vaccination is regarded as an effective intervention for combating pandemics and the majority of infectious diseases that are preventable through vaccine. Low acceptance of vaccine rate and high hesitant to COVID-19 vaccine were still the major challenge to achieve the goal of herd immunity in the community. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of intention to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine and associated factor among Jimma University under graduate student . Method: A cross sectional study design was employed by supplementing qualitative method among Jimma University under graduate students with a sample of 362 from selected departments. Data was collected from April to May 2022. Data was entered into EPI data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for statistical analysis. Multiple Linear regression models were used to identify the predictors of intention to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine score. With 95% CI and p-value was used to interpret the association between the predictors and dependent variable at p-value <0.05 were used to declare statistically significant. Qualitative data were collected by using 12 in-depth interviews and analysed manually to supplement the findings of quantitative study. Result: the response rate of this study was 99.1%. The percentile mean score of intention to vaccinate COVID-19 Vaccine in Jimma University under graduate students was 57.6% (SD=25.7) and the raw mean score of this scale was 30.4±5.33 with a total rotated variance explained 72.58%. COVID-19 vaccine literacy with (B=.155, 95%CI, .090 .217, p<0.001), Descriptive norm with (B=.089, 95%CI, .047 .123, p<0.05), perceived severity with (B=.035, 95%CI .006, .055, p<0.05) and attitude with (B=.322, 95%CI, 293, .353, p<0.05) were found to be factors associated with intention to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: In this study the percentages mean score of intention to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine among Jimma University under graduate students was 57.6%. Intention to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccine was affected by COVID-19 vaccine literacy, descriptive norm, perceived severity and attitude. Awareness creations regarding the vaccine are important to increase the intention to uptake the vaccine.