COVID 19 vaccination readiness among Sri Lankan university students – A preliminary study

Abstract

Societal uptake of a COVID vaccine is a critical concern given that vaccines can only facilitate herd immunity if there is high vaccine coverage among the population. There is a need to identify empirically supported strategies to increase uptake. This study investigated the readiness of Sri Lankan university students for COVID vaccination. A cross sectional descriptive study was set out and Non-random sampling was used to recruit the participants. A self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect the data. Among the 520 university students participated in this study, 91.6% of the total participants have stated that they would take the vaccine if it is offered while 5.2% have stated that they are not decided. The acceptance of vaccination was significantly associated with gender (p=0.004) and undergraduate course (p=0.001). Protecting themselves, their families and community was the main concern for accepting the vaccine while nearly 30% was afraid about unknown side effects. The readiness of Sri Lankan university students for COVID vaccination is highly favourable.