Perception And Acceptability Of COVID-19 Vaccine Among Medical Students Of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-sectional Study

Background- Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has affected more than 200 countries, creating havoc throughout the world. The accelerated development of the Covid-19 vaccine is thus vital development which created a milestone in the field of health. Vaccine hesitancy among the medical students and professionals might be a significant obstacles in implementing the vaccination drive programme. Objectives: 1) To assess the perception of medical students regarding COVID-19 vaccine. 2) To estimate the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine among medical students of VIMSAR, Burla. 3) To determine the association of various factors with the perceptions and acceptability of COVID-19.Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study conducted for a period of 3months i.e August-October 2022 among the MBBS students of VIMSAR, Burla. The total sample size was 847. Results: 99.4%. of the students accepted Covid-19 as a fatal disease & almost all of the students had heard and know about COVID-19 vaccine but 93.3% among them think the vaccine will prevent the disease and build the immunity but 77.4% accept the vaccine to be safe and effective. Social media(94.3%) and news channel(94.6%) were the most common source of information for them. Covid-19 vaccine was taken by 728(86%) of students. Regarding the adverse events following immunisation only 34.4% of the students have heard it.. The 1st year batch students had least perception & acceptability on COVID-19 vaccine whereas maximum was seen among the final year students . The association between the various batches of MBBS students with the perception & acceptability on COVID-19 was found to be significant with chi-square value 123.4981 & 109.1895 respectively with P=0.001.Conclusion- Even though perception and acceptability about COVID-19 vaccine among the students is good but regarding the adverse events following immunisation many are unaware and are having lots of apprehension which could be dealt with proper sensitisation meetings.