COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy among Medical Students of North Delhi

India has remarkably managed to successfully develop and approve two vaccines for Covid 19 which are Covaxin and Covishield. Vaccine hesitancy phenomenon is present even among healthcare professionals.acceptance of vaccination by healthcare or medical students is also of paramount importance. To find out the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and associated factors in medical students of North Delhi. A cross sectional study was planned among 210 undergraduate students from a medical college in New Delhi. The questionnaire consisted of questions about identification data, history of COVID 19 infection, vaccine hesitancy. Data was analyzed by SPSS software version 21.0 and for categorical data analysis Chi- square test was used.Among the study participants, the majority of them (77.6%) belonged to the age group 20-25 years. Males (63.3%) were more as compared to (36.7%) females. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 27.6% among the study participants. Factors like semesters, mother’s education and mother’s occupation of study participants were statistically significantly (p<0.05) associated with vaccine hesitancy regarding COVID 19. Serious side effects, vaccine effectiveness and recent events in the past were the reasons for vaccine hesitancy.This study concludes that about one fourth of study participants were vaccine hesitant.Semesters, mother’s education and mother’s occupation of study participants were statistically significantly (p<0.05) associated with vaccine hesitancy regarding COVID 19 vaccine. About one fourth of study participants had mentioned serious side effects as the reason for vaccine hesitancy. Introduction to an education curriculum in the MBBS can enhance students’ knowledge regarding COVID 19 vaccines and its preventive aspect for future

COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy among Medical Students of North Delhi Keywords:

covid 19 , Vaccine hesitancy , Medical students , Delhi