COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and its Associated Factors Among Healthcare Students at a Nigerian University

Imagine a university campus as a giant, bustling training ground for future doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. These students are the "apprentices" of the medical world, learning their trade in hospitals and labs. Because they are so close to sick patients, they are like firefighters standing right next to a burning building; they need the best protective gear to stay safe. In the world of COVID-19, that gear is the vaccine.

This research paper is a report card on how well these apprentices in Sokoto, Nigeria, are actually wearing that protective gear.

The Big Picture: A Very Low Score

The researchers took a snapshot of 408 health science students at Usmanu Danfodiyo University. They asked a simple question: "Have you gotten at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine?"

The result was a shockingly low score: Only 16 out of every 100 students had been vaccinated.

To put this in perspective, if you walked into a classroom of 100 future healthcare workers, only about 16 of them would have the vaccine. The other 84 were walking around without that specific shield, despite being in high-risk environments.

Why Did They Get Vaccinated? (The Motivators)

For the few students who did get the shot, the reason was mostly self-preservation. It wasn't because a teacher forced them or because the government made a loud announcement.

• The Main Driver: About 7 out of 10 vaccinated students said, "I did it to protect myself."
• The Minor Drivers: A few did it because their friends or family told them to, or because they saw a news campaign. Very few did it because their school required it for their hospital training.

Why Didn't They Get Vaccinated? (The Barriers)

For the majority who didn't get vaccinated, the reasons were like a series of locked doors blocking their path:

1. The "Can't Find It" Door (29%): The biggest hurdle was simply not being able to get to a place where vaccines were available. It was like trying to buy a ticket to a concert that isn't being sold nearby.
2. The "Don't Trust It" Door (21%): Many students were skeptical. They didn't believe the vaccine was safe or effective.
3. The "I Don't Need It" Door (21%): Some students felt the disease wasn't serious enough to worry about, so they saw no point in getting the shot.
4. The "Scared of Side Effects" Door (20%): Fear of what might happen after the injection kept others away.

Interestingly, religion was almost never a reason for saying "no." Even though most students were Muslim, faith itself wasn't the barrier; it was more about access and trust.

The Secret Ingredient: Where You Live

The researchers tried to figure out who was more likely to get vaccinated. They looked at age, gender, religion, and what they were studying.

At first, it looked like older students, males, and Muslims were more likely to be vaccinated. But when the researchers put all these factors into a "mixing bowl" to see what really mattered on its own, only one factor stood out: Where the student lived.

Think of it like this:

• Students living with their parents: These students were the least likely to get vaccinated (only about 4%). It's as if they were stuck in a house where the parents might be hesitant, or they couldn't leave the house easily to find a clinic.
• Students living in dorms (Hostels): These students were much more likely to get vaccinated (about 17%). Living in a dorm is like being in a hive; everyone talks to everyone, and it's easier to walk to a clinic on campus.
• Students living off-campus (but not with family): These were the most likely to be vaccinated (about 24%). They had the most freedom to go get the shot.

The study found that living in a hostel or off-campus made a student 5 to 8 times more likely to get vaccinated than living with family. The researchers suggest that living with family might mean being influenced by parents' fears or having less freedom to move around, whereas living away from home gives students more independence to make their own health choices.

What About the Future?

The researchers asked the unvaccinated students, "Will you get the vaccine later?"
The answer was a lukewarm "maybe." Only about 16% of the unvaccinated group said they were willing to get it in the future. The rest were either unsure or said no. This suggests that just bringing the vaccine to the campus isn't enough; the students also need to have their fears addressed and their trust rebuilt.

The Bottom Line

This study is a wake-up call. The future healthcare workers in this university are largely unvaccinated. The main reasons are that they can't easily get the vaccine, they don't trust it, or they don't think they need it.

The most surprising discovery is that where a student sleeps at night is the strongest predictor of whether they get vaccinated. Students living away from their parents are much more likely to be protected than those living at home.

The authors suggest that to fix this, the university needs to bring the vaccine directly to the students (on-campus drives), make it a strict rule for clinical training, and use student leaders to talk to their peers and clear up the confusion and fear.