Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review
This scoping review is intended to examine and consolidate the factors that influence the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among African university students. Gaining an understanding of these factors is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to improve vaccination rates within this dem...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-05-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251342094 |
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| author | Isaac Nyarko Kwakye Daniel Adom-Fynn Nuworza Kugbey Kwame Benyibaling Bour |
| author_facet | Isaac Nyarko Kwakye Daniel Adom-Fynn Nuworza Kugbey Kwame Benyibaling Bour |
| author_sort | Isaac Nyarko Kwakye |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This scoping review is intended to examine and consolidate the factors that influence the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among African university students. Gaining an understanding of these factors is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to improve vaccination rates within this demographic. An extensive search of peer-reviewed publications was carried out in databases such as Pubmed, Ebsco host, Medline as well as Google and Google Scholar. The Critical Appraisal Skilled Programme Checklist (CASP) was used to evaluate the retrieved articles and presented in the PRISMA flow diagram. Ultimately, 10 articles satisfied the inclusion and exclusion requirements. The review generated five main themes: willingness/acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination hesitancy, factors/reasons for vaccine willingness/acceptance, reasons/barriers for vaccine hesitancy, and source of vaccine information. The acceptance rate of vaccines varied across studies and ranged from 34.2% to 69%, while vaccine hesitancy ranged from 20.8% to 50%. Several factors influenced vaccination acceptance and hesitancy including fear of side effects, the desire to protect oneself and others, doubts about vaccine efficacy, and limited access to information on vaccination. Notably, social media became the frequently utilized source of vaccination-information among university students. The synthesized studies have revealed that vaccination acceptability among the African student population is low, while hesitancy is high. Therefore, public health education should be intensified among the Africa university students to stop COVID-19 transmission, improve vaccination acceptance, achieve herd immunity, and safeguard the health and wellness of the student body and the public. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3f5a3edfc98941c8889612d0f8e93cbf |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-3f5a3edfc98941c8889612d0f8e93cbf2025-08-20T03:12:31ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402025-05-011510.1177/21582440251342094Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping ReviewIsaac Nyarko Kwakye0Daniel Adom-Fynn1Nuworza Kugbey2Kwame Benyibaling Bour3University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, GhanaUniversity of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, GhanaUniversity of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, GhanaUniversity of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, GhanaThis scoping review is intended to examine and consolidate the factors that influence the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among African university students. Gaining an understanding of these factors is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to improve vaccination rates within this demographic. An extensive search of peer-reviewed publications was carried out in databases such as Pubmed, Ebsco host, Medline as well as Google and Google Scholar. The Critical Appraisal Skilled Programme Checklist (CASP) was used to evaluate the retrieved articles and presented in the PRISMA flow diagram. Ultimately, 10 articles satisfied the inclusion and exclusion requirements. The review generated five main themes: willingness/acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination hesitancy, factors/reasons for vaccine willingness/acceptance, reasons/barriers for vaccine hesitancy, and source of vaccine information. The acceptance rate of vaccines varied across studies and ranged from 34.2% to 69%, while vaccine hesitancy ranged from 20.8% to 50%. Several factors influenced vaccination acceptance and hesitancy including fear of side effects, the desire to protect oneself and others, doubts about vaccine efficacy, and limited access to information on vaccination. Notably, social media became the frequently utilized source of vaccination-information among university students. The synthesized studies have revealed that vaccination acceptability among the African student population is low, while hesitancy is high. Therefore, public health education should be intensified among the Africa university students to stop COVID-19 transmission, improve vaccination acceptance, achieve herd immunity, and safeguard the health and wellness of the student body and the public.https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251342094 |
| spellingShingle | Isaac Nyarko Kwakye Daniel Adom-Fynn Nuworza Kugbey Kwame Benyibaling Bour Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review SAGE Open |
| title | Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review |
| title_full | Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review |
| title_short | Exploring Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African University Students: A Scoping Review |
| title_sort | exploring factors affecting covid 19 vaccine uptake among african university students a scoping review |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251342094 |
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