Prevalence, Factors, and Perception against Covid-19 Vaccine Uptakes among Clinical Years of Medical Students at Al- Neelain University, Sudan, 2021

Aim: This study was conducted to the faculty of medicine at Al-Neelain University, Khartoum, Sudan to study the Prevalence, Factors, and Perception against Covid-19 Vaccine Uptakes among Clinical Years students.

Background: Medical students are among the frontline healthcare providers that are most likely to come into contact with COVID-19 patients. As soon as a vaccine is available, it is critical to obtain high COVID-19 immunization coverage rates in this group. They will be charged with offering vaccine recommendations and counseling vaccine-hesitant individuals as future healthcare providers.

Research Methods: This research was conducted to faculty of medicine at al-Neelain University, data of 180 students in a clinical year was collected by using online Google form questionnaire that was made from similar studies and standardized survey. The verbal consent was obtained from each participant.

Results: The study was conducted on 180 students, of which 50 (27.8%) were vaccinated and 130 (72.2%) un vaccinated, the majority of vaccinated groups are from fourth years which are 34 (32.4%), no significant differences between male and females ( p-value 0.1 ) regarding the vaccine uptake, but shows a Correlation between Age and receiving COVID-19 vaccine (P-value = 0.04 which is significant) in which the age of 19-20 is most aged vaccinated 17% of our students’ dose not trust safety of the vaccine and concern about their side effect, 7.1% does not think vaccine is effective, 6% does not know where to get vaccination and .5% relate their refusing of vaccine to a religious manner.

Conclusion: This study shows large number of unvaccinated medical student and highlights the need for an educational curriculum about the safety and effectiveness to promote uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.