COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Associated Factors Among College Students in Dessie City, Northeastern Ethiopia.

Background: The COVID-19 vaccine is regarded as an effective measure for reducing the pandemic's impact. But, COVID-19 disease burden reduction efforts are being affected by the rising vaccine resistance.

Objective: To assess the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and associated factors among college students in Dessie city, Northeastern Ethiopia.

Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was carried out among college students in Dessie town from July 1-20, 2021. The association between independent and dependent variables was assessed by binary logistic regression analysis using crude odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio. Variables having p values of less than 0.05 at the 95% confidence interval were regarded as potential determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.

Results: A total of 422 college students participated in the study with a response rate of 95.6%. More than half 226 (56.2%) of the participants had willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccine. Respondents who had history of chronic medical illness (AOR: 4.340, 95% CI: 1.166, 16.149), training on COVID-19 vaccine (AOR: 4.755, 95% CI: 2.606, 6.674), history of regular vaccine uptake (AOR: 2.534, 95% CI: 1.412, 4.549), perception of COVID-19 severity (AOR: 4.109, 95% CI: 2.190, 7.710), perception that COVID-19 can be prevented by vaccine (AOR: 2.420, 95% CI: 1.160, 5.049), and development of herd immunity against COVID-19 vaccines (AOR: 2.566, 95% CI: 1.431, 4.599) were factors significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.

Conclusion: The acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among college students was low. The history of chronic medical illness, training on COVID-19 vaccine, history of vaccine uptake, perception that COVID-19 can be prevented by vaccine, perception of herd immunity development against COVID-19, and severity of COVID 19 infection were factors significantly associated with the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. Hence, it is necessary to promote COVID-19 vaccination among college students through health education and vaccine outreach.