Willingness of college students aged 10 to 24 years to get vaccinated against COVID-19 disease: a cross-sectional study in South-East Nigeria.

Background: Willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is a topical issue that may change the course and distribution of the pandemic in the country.

Objectives: This study was aimed to determine the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among college adolescents and associated factors.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among one thousand college adolescents in six secondary schools in Enugu from April to August 2021. A pretested, self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data entry and analysis were done using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software version 25. Descriptive statistics were used to describe college adolescents' characteristics. Categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages. Predictors of willingness to vaccinate were assessed using binary logistic regression.

Results: A minor proportion of the respondents, 13.2% (153) were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The respondents who were males were 1.6 times more willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination when compared with those who were females. (AOR=1.6, 95%CI: 1.1- 2.3). The respondents who were aware they could be infected with COVID-19 were twice more likely to receive COVID-19 vaccination when compared with those who felt they could not be infected. (AOR=2.0, 95%CI: 1.1-3.1). The respondents who had good knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination were 2.2 times more likely to receive COVID-19 vaccination when compared with those who had poor knowledge. (AOR=2.2, 955CI: 1.5-3.3).

Conclusion: A small fraction of college adolescents were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Male gender, knowledge of vaccine and possibility of transmitting infection are predictors of willingness to receive the vaccination.