Attitude to vaccinate against coronavirus disease 2019 of high school students in Chonburi Province, Thailand: a study of grade 10-12 students of princess chulabhorn science school

ABSTRACT

Background: COVID-19 or coronavirus disease 2019 has rapidly affected all aspects of life around and becomes a major threat to public health around the world. One of the most important actions that need to be taken to stop the pandemic is vaccinations. Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in the long term, unwillingness to receive vaccinations and negative attitudes toward vaccines are major barriers. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate community knowledge, risk perceptions, and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinations among high school students in Chonburi, Thailand. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted using a questionnaire. A total of 303 students participated. COVID-19-related knowledge, risk perception, and attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines were assessed. Independent t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze differences between outcomes and sociodemographic. Attitudes toward vaccination were analyzed by a generalized linear model. Results: Students revealed a moderate level of COVID-19-related knowledge, correctly answering 7.09 (SD = 1.56) questions in a total of 10, a moderate level of risk perception of getting COVID-19, average score was 9.7 (SD = 3.03) of 12, and attitude toward vaccine against, the average scores at 3.02 (SD = 1.64), questions in a total of 21. Conclusion: This study revealed a moderate level of knowledge about COVID-19, risk perception, and attitude against COVID-19 vaccination among high school students at Princess Chulabhorn Science School, Chonburi, Thailand. Moreover, it reinforces that there is no relation between those factors and the attitude for accepting COVID-19 vaccines. However, the reasons behind the attitude against the COVID-19 vaccination were efficacy of vaccines. News about the side effects of the vaccines, such as chest pain, muscle pain, dizziness, fatigue, breathing problems, numbness, and facial tics, was widespread among people and brought more attitudes against COVID-19 vaccination. Considering precisely, increasing efficacy of the vaccine will lead to higher vaccine acceptance. Therefore, to control the pandemic in the long term, providing high vaccine efficacy will be one of the recommended solutions.