EC Microbiology

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) endorses the COVID-19 vaccination as the most effective method of curbing the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccine hesitancy is ranked among the top ten significant global health threats due to people's perceptions and conspiracies. However, there is a scarcity of data on university students’ vaccination status in Ghana.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of Ghanaian university students towards COVID-19 and its vaccination program.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was used to assess students' perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccination program using standardized questionnaires. A total of 1000 validated questionnaires were distributed to respondents, and 700 responded, indicating a 70% response rate.

Results: The results revealed that 55.3% of the respondents were vaccinated [X² (1) = 7.734, p < 0.05] with a few (38.5%) having shown some form of adverse effects. About 38.5% of the participants had no idea about the type of vaccine they took, while most of them (89.4%) desired to recommend the vaccine to those who haven’t yet taken their jab [Χ² (1) = 223.089, p < 0.05)]. Out of the 381 (53%) that were vaccinated, 219 (59.7%) did so willingly trusting the approval of the vaccines by World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile a few of the participants [Χ² (5) = 1419.210, p < 0.05] had misconceptions and doubts about the vaccine. It was also observed that conspiracy theories impede the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. From the study, the binary logistic regression analysis of the data discovered that age has a significant impact on the vaccination status of students [AOR = 0.351, CI (0.136, 0.911), P-value = 0.031].

Conclusion: The rate of COVID-19 vaccination coverage among Ghanaian university students is lower than expected. Mistrust, misconceptions, conspiracy theories, and socio-demographic factors are major impediments to vaccine success in Ghana. The study's findings suggest that any interventions aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination uptake among university students should focus on mass education in order to build participants' trust in vaccination and decrease misconceptions and conspiracy theories about the vaccination program.

Keywords: Pandemic; Vaccination; Vaccine Hesitancy; Conspiracy Theory; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19

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