Investigating barriers and facilitators to Fall 2023 COVID-19 vaccine uptake in public health students

Objective: This study investigated factors influencing Fall 2023 COVID vaccine uptake in graduate and undergraduate public health students. Participants: 107 public health students at a large public university. Methods: We distributed a Qualtrics survey assessing student status, Fall 2023 COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and factors influencing vaccination. We analyzed quantitative data with descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests and used thematic analysis to analyze open-ended responses. Results: Graduate students (n = 46, 43% of participants) were significantly more likely to have received their vaccine than undergraduates (p = 0.008). For respondents that did not plan to vaccinate (n = 27), the most common reasons were "COVID-19 is not a concern" (n = 14, 50%) and "It is too inconvenient to receive a vaccine" (n = 11, 39.2%). Most respondents denied the influence of social media on their vaccination decisions. Conclusions: Our results emphasize the importance of prioritizing convenience and accessibility when implementing vaccination programs for public health students.