Acceptance of the coronavirus disease-2019 vaccine among medical students in Uganda

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is still a major global threat for which vaccination remains the ultimate solution Uganda reported 40,751 cases and 335 deaths as of 9 April 2021 and started its vaccination program among priority groups like health workers, teachers, those with chronic diseases among others in early March 2021 Unanimous uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is required to subsequently avert its spread;therefore, we assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptability, hesitancy, and associated factors among medical students in Uganda METHODS: This study employed an online descriptive cross-sectional survey among medical students across 10 medical schools in Uganda A structured questionnaire via Google Form was conveniently sent to eligible participants via WhatsApp Each medical school had a coordinator who consistently shared the data tool in the WhatsApp groups Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression were used to assess the association between vaccine acceptability with demographics, COVID-19 risk perception, and vaccine hesitancy RESULTS: We surveyed 600 medical students, 377 (62 8%) were male COVID-19 vaccine acceptability was 37 3% and vaccine hesitancy 30 7% Factors associated with vaccine acceptability were being male (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1 9, 95% CI 1 3-2 9, p=0 001) and being single (aOR= 2 1, 95% CI 1 1-3 9, p=0 022) Very high (aOR= 3 5, 95% CI 1 7-6 9, p<0 001) or moderate (aOR =2 2, 95% CI 1 2-4 1, p=0 008) perceived risk of getting COVID-19 in the future, receiving any vaccine in the past 5 years (aOR= 1 6, 95% CI 1 1-2 5, p=0 017), and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (aOR 0 6, 95% CI 0 4-0 9, p=0 036) CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed low levels of acceptance towards the COVID-19 vaccine among medical students, low self-perceived risks of COVID-19, and many had relied on social media that provided them with negative information This poses an evident risk on the battle towards COVID-19 in the future especially when these future health professions are expected to be influencing decisions of the general public towards the same