Does COVID-19 have an impact on influenza vaccine knowledge, attitude and practice among medical students: a 2-year prospective cohort study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo explore the main factors affecting the knowledge, attitude and practice about influenza and influenza vaccine as well as the intention to receive influenza vaccination among the same group of medical students before (2019) and after (2021) the COVID-19 outbreak.DesignA population-based prospective cohort study.SettingA longitudinal cohort study of a selected medical school in Chongqing, China, which ran from 2019 to 2021.ParticipantsA total of 803 medical students participated in the study in 2019 and only 484 students responded in 2021. The response rate for our survey was only 60.27% due to graduation, emails being abandoned, etc.ResultsThe influenza vaccination rate of students at this medical school was 6.7% in 2019, compared with 25.8% in 2021. The awareness rate of medical students about influenza and influenza vaccine was 82.8% in 2019 and 86% in 2021, and there was no significantly statistical difference between the 2 years (p=0.134); the number of medical students with supportive attitude towards influenza vaccine was 95.1% in 2019 and 97.1% in 2021, and there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 years (p=0.078); the number of students who actively learnt about knowledge related to influenza vaccine rose from 183 (22.8%) in 2019 to 195 (40.3%) in 2021.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 outbreak prompted an increase in influenza vaccination rates among medical students in Chongqing, with almost all students (96.0%) believing that the spread of COVID-19 promoted their knowledge about influenza and influenza vaccine, and the vast majority (74.8%) believing that the spread of COVID-19 promoted their willingness to receive influenza vaccine.

Influenza Vaccination of Romanian Medical Students and Resident Physicians—A Matter of Accessibility

“…Concordantly, a study conducted in China [22] among students from various fields found that their monthly living expenses did not influence their decision to vaccinate. In another prospective study involving medical students in China [20], both vaccine inaccessibility and inconvenience were identified as barriers before the pandemic in 2019 and during the pandemic in 2021 to a similar extent. Considering the weaker association between vaccine cost and vaccination intention in the previously mentioned studies, it can be argued that although the necessity to pay might represent a barrier, improving vaccine accessibility would be more effective than offering vaccines for free.…”

“…The combined effects of a perceived low risk of influenza, fueled by the low number of influenza cases during the pandemic, and of an increasing vaccination hesitancy may explain this discrepancy, a result that was also reported in several other countries. For example, findings from a survey [20] conducted in China in 2022 involving over 2000 students showed a hesitancy rate of 44.7% regarding influenza vaccination.…”