Knowledge and Risk Perception of COVID-19 and the Willingness to Take COVID-19 Vaccine among Tertiary Institution Students in Jos, Plateau State: a Comparative Assessment of Medical and Nursing Students

Background: Coronavirus disease has assumed increasing public health importance globally, especially in terms of its impact on the health systems and economies. Despite the abundance of information on COVID-19 in the public domain, misinformation is rife and the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine is tainted by controversies and cynicisms. This study compared the knowledge and risk perception of COVID-19 between medical and nursing students in Jos and their willingness to take the vaccine. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study among 186 medical and 129 nursing students in Jos selected through a stratified sampling technique. Data was collected through a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Medical students had significantly better knowledge (55.4% vs 5.4%) and risk perception (93.5% vs 47.3%) of COVID-19 compared to the nursing students (˂0.0001). One hundred and fifty seven respondents (71.1%) were vaccine-hesitant and this was worse in the nursing students (82.9%) than in the medical students (62.9%). Lack of trust for a COVID-19 vaccine bothering on its efficacy, safety profile, adverse effects, and rapidity of development and testing were the leading reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: Medical students had better knowledge and perception of COVID-19 risk than their nursing counterparts. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is high among medical and nursing students. Therefore, further education by school authorities on COVID-19 and the role of vaccines in its control is necessary