FACTORS INFLUENCING THE UPTAKE OF THE COVID-19 VACCINE AMONG NURSING STUDENTS AT BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Background

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The government of Uganda indicated a low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, this aimed at assessing the factors influencing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among nursing students at BSU.

Methods 

A cross-sectional study was conducted using quantitative data collection methods, enrolling 139 participants who were selected using a simple random sampling method. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data which were checked for completeness, cleaned, and entered into SPSS for further analysis. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics and a chi-square test to show the association between variables.

Results 

Of 138 participants, the majority (36.0%) were aged between 21-23 females (64.0%) who were single (72.7%) and Anglicans (48.2%). Most of them were BNS students (61.2%) in their first year (36.7%) living in urban areas (74.1%) and were unemployed (65.5%). Bivariate analysis indicated that sex (p-value 0.021), program of study (p-value 0.031), desire to protect self, desire to protect friends and family, desire to travel freely within and abroad, compulsory in the workplace, concern about the side effects of the vaccine, myths, and conspiracy plan to wait and take it later, a program of study, level of education and prevalence were all significant variables.

Conclusion 

Generally, the findings highlighted a high uptake of COVID-19 vaccination among nursing students at BSU and also general good knowledge of nursing students towards COVID-19 vaccination.

Recommendations

The government through the Ministry of Health should also expand its mass COVID-19 immunization campaign to reach local areas. Immunization services should also be incorporated into the health care package given as part of outpatient services in government health facilities. 

Responsible stakeholders in curriculum design should formulate topics teaching about the benefits of immunization against COVID-19