Medical Students' Attitudes Toward the COVID-19 Vaccine and Medical School Vaccine Education: A Survey Study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate how demographic factors influence medical students' attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and their perceptions of vaccine education in medical school curricula.

Methods: A 28-question anonymous online survey was distributed to 640 medical students at one academic medical institution. Individual attitudes toward vaccines were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Responses were tested for association with various demographic factors using the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test.

Results: Two-hundred and forty-four responses out of 640 total surveyed revealed that 97.9% of the students had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, 68.44% supported mandatory vaccinations, 16.81% did not believe vaccination protects others from getting sick, and 66.4% supported vaccine personal choice, with men showing a statistically stronger belief than women (p=0.0046). Approximately 25.1% of the students reported not receiving sufficient vaccine education in medical school and only 12.4% of all students considered medical school curricula as their most trusted source of vaccine information. Moreover, 8.6% of the students would not encourage patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and 8.2% were uncomfortable discussing patients' concerns. Unvaccinated students were more likely to not encourage patients to receive the vaccine (p<0.0001) and were more inclined to believe that acquiring natural immunity was preferable to vaccination (p<0.0001). One hundred percent of very conservative students, 97.8% of slightly conservative students, and students associated with any religion displayed statistical significance in endorsing vaccine personal choice (p=<0.0001), particularly among Christians (p=<0.0001). In contrast, 28% of very liberal and 48.3% of slightly liberal students agreed (p<0.0001). Additionally, the majority of liberal students agreed vaccines prevent the spread of disease while only 75% of conservative, independent, and neutral students agreed (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Despite high compliance, this cohort significantly demonstrated concern toward the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly those who were unvaccinated, had conservative political associations, and belonged to certain religious groups. These findings suggest identifying factors that impede medical education and an understanding of vaccines in order to improve physician training. We recommend an expanded medical curriculum to address these issues.