Vaccination practices, knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19 vaccines among Chinese university students: a cross-sectional study from a comprehensive university in Wuhan
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 21, 2025
Author Spotlight: Studying Host-Virus Interactions with Pseudotyped Viruses
Published on: November 21, 2023
Xinyi Hu1, Dan Yan1, Mengfan Liao1
1Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, College of Medicine, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Objective:
In China, a free national COVID-19 vaccination programme has been launched in spring 2021 and is ongoing across the country. This study aimed to preliminarily understand the current COVID-19 vaccination practices and the associated knowledge/attitude factors among Chinese university students.
Design And Setting:
A single-centre cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted between 1 and 20 May 2021 among a convenience sample of Chinese university students recruited from a comprehensive university in Wuhan. A total of 359 valid questionnaires were obtained.
Results:
Just 1 month after the commencement of the university vaccination process, 75% of responding students had received the COVID-19 vaccination. Students without experience of COVID-19 infection were more likely to get vaccinated than those who had been infected. Most (57%) received information about COVID-19 vaccination through official announcements released by the university, and 67% were vaccinated at vaccination place arranged by the university. An interesting finding is that, although the overall vaccine uptake rate was 75%, nearly one-third of vaccinees did not know or incorrectly stated the type of COVID-19 vaccines that they had received. Mean knowledge test score was 3.05 out of 6, suggesting poor knowledge regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccinated showed more positive attitudes towards the importance of establishing herd immunity through the COVID-19 vaccination programme for pandemic control than the non-vaccinated did. 'Effectiveness in preventing COVID-19' was perceived by 76% respondents as the most important factor contributing to COVID-19 vaccination. A total of 76% were worried about safety-related issues, including 'unknown long-term safety', 'vaccine allergy' and 'vaccine-caused COVID-19 infection'.
Conclusions:
Data suggested a rapid and effective progress of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme in China among university students. Taking effective official actions, as well as enhancing the belief in vaccines' effectiveness, might be necessary for the good implementation of COVID-19 vaccination programmes.
