Abstract

Background: South African universities lack comprehensive vaccination policies for undergraduate health science students, despite exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases during clinical training. We investigated health science students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of Stellenbosch University regarding vaccination and established their preferences for the delivery of a student vaccination programme.

Methods: A 32-question survey regarding students’ KAP and preferences about vaccination was emailed to undergraduate health science students (n = 2472) between November 2017 and April 2018. Mean KAP scores and vaccination preferences were compared between medical and allied health students. Responses to three open-ended questions were coded by two independent researchers to identify emerging themes.

Results: Questionnaires (n = 403) were completed by medical (79.8%) and allied health (20.2%) students. There was no difference between the mean K-scores of the two groups (6.8 vs 6.4/10 questions; p = 0.998). Students had positive attitudes to vaccination (mean A-score 4.1/7 questions) but felt that education regarding recommended vaccinations was lacking. Although students supported the idea of mandatory vaccinations, many raised concerns regarding access and affordability of vaccinations. The majority (90.3%) of students had completed or were completing their hepatitis B immunization series. There was widespread support for peer vaccination sessions and development of a webpage or mobile application to assist with scheduling of vaccinations.

Conclusions: Undergraduate health science students support the introduction of an expanded vaccination policy. Additional educational content, vaccine accessibility and affordability are important issues to consider in the development of a health science student vaccination programme.