Abstract

A major determinate for the uptake of vaccinations is the approach that the media uses when providing information to the general public. Perceptions of vaccinations, therefore, are statistically tied to the rates at which people will receive the vaccination. Studies have been conducted on vaccination uptake rates in college students and have found that college students rank vaccination as a low priority. This is because they are finally in the time of their lives that they can make their own decisions and when they are given this power, they choose to not prioritize vaccinations. Similarly, college-age individuals are not normally a target population for vaccination hesitancy studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 has stressed the importance of vaccines and vaccination perceptions are more important now than ever. Due to this fact, we sent out surveys to Kentucky colleges and universities and received 521 responses from students to determine their perception of the COVID-19 vaccine. We concluded that 67.93% of the population is COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant. It was also found that 27.51% of the population would refuse to receive the COVID-19 vaccination one year after it was on the market. Finally, for 46.99% of the population, the newness of the vaccine is the contributing factor as to why they would not receive the vaccine immediately. This information allows for universities to create vaccination campaigns that can help to alleviate the hesitancy their students are feeling toward the COVID-19 vaccines.

Semester/Year of Award

Spring 2021

Mentor

Aaron M. MacDonald

Mentor Department Affiliation

Health Promotion and Administration

Access Options

Restricted Access Thesis

Document Type

Bachelor Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Scholars

Degree Level

Bachelor's

Department

Biological Sciences

IRB Approval Number (if applicable)

3558

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