Challenges of Accepting COVID-19 Vaccination Among Paramedical Students: A Qualitative Study

Background and aims: In recent years, public confidence in vaccines has been decreasing. This study was conducted aiming at explaining the challenges of accepting the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) vaccination by students. Methods: This study is a qualitative content analysis. The samples were students who did not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The applied data collection method was a semi-structured interview. Sampling continued until reaching data saturation. To analyze the data, first, the interviews were recorded and typed word by word. Then, they were entered into the MaxQ-10 software. Results: Two main categories of individual barriers emerged from data analysis. The first category included false wrong peace of mind after vaccination, lack of belief in the effectiveness of the vaccine, fear of the vaccine and its side effects, infection with the coronavirus, a tendency to show the insignificance of the disease, and exacerbation of the symptoms of COVID-19 in the case of vaccination. The other individual barriers were the contraction of COVID-19 in the case of vaccination and beliefs in more effects of preventive methods as compared to vaccination. The second category contained collective barriers such as not having proper information regarding the media, considering the political nature of vaccination, waiting for access to vaccines made in Iran, and preventing the family from vaccination. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, to increase the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination, there is a need to remove internal and external barriers through various methods such as providing the community with accurate and timely information through the mass media and facilitating people’s access to various vaccines, especially Iran-made vaccine.