Sentiments Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination among Graduate Students in Singapore

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages unabated, and with more infectious variants, vaccination may offer a way to transit out of strict restrictions on physical human interactions to curb the virus spread and prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. However, vaccine hesitancy threatens to significantly impact our progress towards achieving this. It is thus important to understand the sentiments regarding vaccination for different segments of the population to facilitate the development of effective strategies to persuade these groups. Here, we surveyed the COVID-19 vaccination sentiments among a highly educated group of graduate students from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Graduate students who are citizens of 54 different countries, mainly from Asia, pursue studies in diverse fields, with 32% expressing vaccine hesitancy. Citizenship, religion, country of undergraduate/postgraduate studies, exposure risk and field of study are significantly associated with vaccine sentiments. Students who are Chinese citizens or studied in Chinese Universities prior to joining NUS are more hesitant, while students of Indian descent or studied in India are less hesitant about vaccination. Side effects, safety issues and vaccine choice are the major concerns of the hesitant group. Hence, this study would facilitate the development of strategies that focus on these determinants to enhance vaccine acceptance.

Students’ Views on Vaccination against COVID-19 Virus and Trust in Media Information about the Vaccine: The Case of Serbia

“…The passage of time as an indicator of certain harmful consequences (28%), distrust in the quality of the vaccine (23.4%), fear of side effects (13.7%) and distrust in the effectiveness of the vaccine (10.3%) were the main reasons for non-vaccination of Novi Sad students. The obtained results correspond to the findings of similar research which indicate that the speed of vaccine introduction, efficacy, side effects, side effects, safety and vaccine choice are the main reasons for variability among students around the world [11,12,32,36].…”

“…There is a slightly greater interest in student vaccination among students around the world compared to Serbia. Over 68% of postgraduate students at the University of Singapore [32], 76.3% of students from China [12], as many as 80% of Canadian public university students [11] and 81.6% of Italian university students [14] were ready to be vaccinated, as well as 89.4% of undergraduate students in India [33], while the Middle East is among the regions with the lowest vaccine acceptance rate in the world [34].…”

Prevalence, Knowledge and Potential Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability Among University Students in the United Arab Emirates: Findings and Implications

“…40 Other studies though have shown higher rates of vaccine update than seen in our study. Lim et al found that only 32% if graduate students expressed vaccine hesitancy, 66 with Riad et al ascertaining worldwide that only 13.9% of the dental students would reject the COVID-19 vaccine. 67 Barello et al also ascertained that 86.1% of the students in Italy would take the vaccine for COVID-19, with no significant difference between acceptance among healthcare students versus non-healthcare students.…”

Investigation of factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among communities of universities in the United Arab Emirates

“… 39 Lim et al studied vaccine acceptance in a university amongst students and found that many students were still hesistant to take vaccines. 44 …”