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Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Flu and COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions among University Students

2021; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/vaccines9020070

2076-393X

Roberta Pastorino, Leonardo Villani, Marco Mariani, Walter Ricciardi, Guendalina Graffigna, Stefania Boccia,

Virology and Viral Diseases

Flu vaccination for the general population, and specifically for vulnerable subgroups, brings the potential to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of mobility, mortality, and hospitalizations. In Italy, flu vaccination is recommended to all ≥6 months of age, even if it is only free of charge for specific categories. We investigated the intentions towards flu and COVID-19 vaccinations from a sample of 436 Italian university students. Results of a web-based survey show that 77.52% of them were willing to get the flu vaccine and 94.73% were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when available. We identified positive predictive factors to undertake flu vaccination as being a medical student, having undertaken a previous vaccination against flu, and having a high level of concern and perceived vulnerability to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reinforced public health activities might consider engaging university students a as possible “positive influencer” towards flu and COVID-19 vaccination programs.