Implications of the anti-vaccine movement, bioterrorism, infodemic and intrusion in the COVID-19 pandemic: student perception. Dr. Jose Maria Vargas School of Medicine, Universidad Central de Venezuela

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to study the perception of a group of students about the implications of the anti-vaccine movement, bioterrorism, infodemic and intrusion in the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive, non-experimental study with the quantitative approach was designed, using an intentional non-probabilistic sampling including 70 active students from the Microbiology Chair of the School of Medicine Dr. Jose Maria Vargas of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. The survey technique was used for collecting the information and a questionnaire was prepared, which consisted of five parts and 11 questions with two types of answer options single and multiple selection closed response options and was applied in June 2021. The results of this study showed that the second-year medical students surveyed have knowledge about important subjects such as bioterrorism and the anti-vaccine movements. However, despite possessing and handling information on the aforementioned topics, the wave of misinformation caused by non-competent media affected the students participating in the survey, producing mostly stress and anxiety.