Attitudes towards COVID-19 Booster Vaccines, Vaccine Preferences, Child Immunization, and Recent Issues in Vaccination among University Students in Jordan

Abstract

Although COVID-19 vaccines have been available in Jordan for more than a year, Jordan suffers from a low vaccination rate. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards recent issues in vaccination among university students in Jordan. We adopted a cross sectional study design using an online questionnaire distributed in a Jordanian university with a medical school chosen at random. The survey asked about COVID-19 vaccine preferences, factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine preferences, child vaccination, and booster vaccines. A total of 417 students completed the survey. Most respondents (54.7%) preferred the Pfizer vaccine, and 6.2% refused to take any vaccine. Pfizer’s efficacy against new strains is a main factor in preferring Pfizer over other vaccines (p < 0.01). Most respondents (71%) believed that vaccination is crucial to prevent COVID-19 surges from new COVID-19 strains, while 44.6% of respondents believed that children should be included in vaccination campaigns, and 70% believed that booster vaccines required more studies to prove their efficacy. Students had mixed attitudes towards many recent issues concerning COVID-19 vaccination. Studying these factors and attitudes in more depth and in different populations can pave the way towards improving vaccination rates worldwide.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Vulnerable Groups: Syrian Refugees in Jordan

“…Quite a large percentage of the local population were hesitant to take the vaccine. Alternatively, Syrian refugees show high willingness to vaccinate their children, with only 13.9% unwilling to do so, which is very low compared with other studies reporting high unwillingness of parents from Arab countries to vaccinate their children [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

Assessing the acceptability of COVID‐19 vaccine and its booster dose

“…It is influenced by factors such as complacency, convenience, and confidence. 1 Previous studies demonstrated the escalating worldwide occurrence of vaccine hesitancy in general as a global phenomenon. 14,15 Prominent factors behind vaccine hesitancy identified include safety issues, religious beliefs, beliefs that vaccines do not work, and overall lack of information.…”

“…These mutations were associated with increased recurrence of infection, transmissibility, and immune evasion even after natural immunity caused by infection or vaccine‐induced immunity. Booster doses were shown to provide a fast and significant improvement in protection against infection for all variants as they improved humoral and cellular immunity against different variants 1 …”

“…Booster doses were shown to provide a fast and significant improvement in protection against infection for all variants as they improved humoral and cellular immunity against different variants. 1 A study showed that with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, dominated by the highly transmissible Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, the efficacy of vaccines against infection with this variant and other so-called "variants of concern" was found to be reduced, 11 revealing the need for a third dose that is active against new variants. Many countries have already started administering booster doses in the wake of breakthrough infections, the arrival of new variants, and a decline in long-term protection.…”

“…The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID‐19) appeared on December 12, 2019, in the Chinese city of Wuhan 1 . The virus has spread rapidly to adjacent countries and even farther afield, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the epidemic as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, 3 months after it was initially identified as an outbreak 2,3 .…”