Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mandatory COVID Vaccination: Perspectives from Graduate Allied Health Students at a Mid-size University in the United States

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Because many students enrolled in Allied Health programs are on track to becoming health practitioners or clinicians and frontline workers who would become critical sources of information for patients it is critical to understand their perspectives about mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Results: COVID-19 Risk Perception. A significant majority of the respondents had high or strongly high-risk perception of COVID-19, 82(56.6%) strongly agreed and 29(20%) agreed with the statement, COVID-19 is a public health issue (P-value < 0.0001), Comparing by demographic characteristics: African American/Black compared with other races (P-Value = 0.0462), Master of Public Health program, compared with all other graduate programs (P-Value = 0.0140) and fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated and boosted compared with incomplete or not-vaccinated for COVID-19 (P-value = 0.0059) had higher COVID-19 risk perceptions. strongly high-risk perception of COVID-19, 82(56.6%) strongly agreed and 29(20%) agreed with the statement, COVID-19 is a public health issue (P-value < 0.0001), Comparing by demographic characteristics: African American/Black compared with other races (P-Value = 0.0462), Master of Public Health program, compared with all other graduate programs (P-Value = 0.0140) and fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated and boosted compared with incomplete or not-vaccinated for COVID-19 (P-value = 0.0059) had higher COVID-19 risk perceptions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Henrikson, N. B., Anderson, M. L., Opel, D. J., Dunn, J., Marcuse, E.K., and Grossman, D. C., (2017). “Longitudinal trends in vaccine hesitancy in a cohort of mothers surveyed in Washington State, 2013–2015.” Vol. 132. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354917711175.

  2. Omer, S. B., Salmon, D.A., Orenstein, W.A., deHart, M. P., and Halsey, N. (2009). “Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases.” The New England Journal of Medicine 360 (19): 1981–88.

  3. Marti, M., Cola, M., Macdonald, N., Dumolard, L., & Duclos, P. (2017). Assessments of global drivers of vaccine hesitancy in 2014-looking beyond safety concerns. PLoS ONE, 12(3), e0172310.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Ledford, H. Six months of COVID vaccines: what 1.7 billion doses have taught scientists. Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01505-x (2021).

  5. Chirico, F., Jaime, A., Teixeira, S., Panagiotis, T., & Khan, S. (2022). Safety & effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines: A narrative review. The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 155(1), 91–104.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Henry, D. A., Jones, M. A., Paulina, S., & Paul, G. (2021). Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines: findings from real world studies. The Medical Journal of Australia, 215(4), 149–51.e1.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Fields, R. (2014). Vaccine Declinations Present New Challenges for Public Health. Health Care and Law. Vol. 33 No. 9.

  8. Amara, P. S., Platt, J. E., Raj, M., et al. (2022). Learning about COVID-19: Sources of information, public trust, and contact tracing during the pandemic. BMC Public Health, 22, 1348. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13731-7

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. “The 12 Common Myths & Misconceptions about COVID-19 Vaccination.” n.d. Accessed September 13, 2023. https://www.unicef.org/armenia/en/stories/12-common-myths-misconceptions-about-covid-19-vaccination.

  10. Knudsen J., Perlman, M. G., Uccell, I. G., Jeavons, J., and Chokshi D. “Combating Misinformation as a Core Function of Public Health.” NEJM Catalyst 4 (2): CAT.22.0198.

  11. Statement on the fifteenth meeting of the IHR (2005) Emergency Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic. 5 May 2023. https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic?

  12. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Statement on End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. May 11, 2023 https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-public-health-emergency/index.html.

  13. Hochbaum, G. M. Public Participation in Medical Screening Programs: A Sociopsychological Study. PHS publication no.572. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958.

  14. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Ten Great Public Health Achievements—United States, 2001—2010 Weekly May 20, 2011/60 (19); 619 – 623.

  15. Amit, S., Regev, Y. G., & Afek, A. (2021). Early rate reductions of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 in BNT162b2 vaccine recipients. Lancet, 397, 875–857.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Wafaa, E. M., Ashwin, V., & Ayman, E. M. (2023). Facing the New Covid-19 Reality. The New England Journal of Medicine, 388(5), 385–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bowe, B., Xie, Y., & Al-Aly, Z. (2023). Postacute sequelae of COVID-19 at 2 years. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02521-2

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors have not disclosed any funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Health Administration, and Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Tennessee State University, 330 10th Avenue North, D-405, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Jemal Gishe

  2. Physical Therapy Department, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Nashville, Tenn, 37209-1561, USA

    Deborah Edmondson

  3. College of Health Sciences, Tennessee State University, Health Sciences Bld., 1108 37th Avenue North, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA

    Mohamed Kanu

  4. Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Tennessee State University, Room 447 Health Sciences, Building, 1108 37th Avenue North, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA

    Ronald Barredo

  5. Department of Professional and Medical Education, Meharry Medical College, School of Medicine, Nashville, USA

    Edilberto A. Raynes

  6. College of Health Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, USA

    Dalin Parker

  7. Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA

    Brittany Cosby

Authors
  1. Jemal Gishe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Deborah Edmondson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mohamed Kanu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ronald Barredo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Edilberto A. Raynes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dalin Parker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Brittany Cosby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamed Kanu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have not disclosed any competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gishe, J., Edmondson, D., Kanu, M. et al. Mandatory COVID Vaccination: Perspectives from Graduate Allied Health Students at a Mid-size University in the United States. J Community Health 49, 355–365 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-023-01297-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-023-01297-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation