COVID-19 Vaccination Practices and Perceptions Among Health Professions Students and Educators

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an academic health professions community of students, faculty, and staff. Multiple health professions were invited to complete the study survey and the results are inclusive of the NSU Colleges of Allopathic Medicine, Dental Medicine, Health Care Sciences, Nursing, Optometry and Osteopathic Medicine. Background/Rationale: Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a group of related viruses that can be causative agents for many mild to deadly respiratory tract infections in humans. A novel CoV, SARS-CoV-2, is the pathogen responsible for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three highly effective COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, a replication-defective, live viral vector platform manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceutical (Adenovirus 26-Spike protein or Ad26.COV2.S) and two mRNA vaccine platforms led by manufacturers Moderna (mRNA-1273) and Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2). Methods: An anonymous, self-reporting 29-item survey was developed with questions pertaining to demographics, vaccine practices and hesitancy, and long COVID-19 symptoms. A total of 548 health professions students, faculty and staff from NSU participated in the study. Fisher’s exact test was done to compare students to faculty and staff. Results: We include an analysis of survey components including perceptions of vaccination and the impact of COVID-19 infection and vaccination on health outcomes and academic or professional responsibilities. Our findings revealed that a similar proportion of students accept all vaccinations without hesitation compared to faculty and staff (51.5% vs. 57.2%, p=0.40). However, a lower percentage of students agree that “the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks” compared to faculty and staff (85.9% vs. 92.8%, p=0.039). A lower percentage of students disagree or strongly disagree that “healthcare workers/students should have the right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine that are required by their employer/institution for any reason” (40.2% vs. 68.9%, p<0.001). Conclusions: The study provides insight to the perception of vaccines from students, faculty and staff at an interprofessional healthcare community. Interprofessional Implications: The results from our survey are instrumental in interpreting the effects of the pandemic on an interprofessional community of health educators and students. References: Dybsand LL, Hall KJ, Carson PJ. Immunization attitudes, opinions, and knowledge of healthcare professional students at two Midwestern universities in the United States. BMC Med Educ. 2019;19(1):242. doi:10.1186/s12909-019-1678-8 Baldolli A, Michon J, Verdon R, Fournier A. Vaccination perception and coverage among healthcare students in France in 2019. BMC Med Educ. 2020;20(1):508. doi:10.1186/s12909-020-02426-5 Sadoff J, Gray G, Vandebosch A, et al. Safety and efficacy of single-dose Ad26.COV2.S vaccine against Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(23):2187-2201. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2101544 Sadoff J, Le Gars M, Shukarev G, et al. Interim results of a phase 1-2a trial of Ad26.COV2.S Covid-19 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(19):1824-1835. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2034201 Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, et al. Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(27):2603-2615. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2034577