ABSTRACT BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic, with no definitive treatment in sight, continues to ravage the world. Development of COVID-19 vaccine has thus become a global public health necessity in containing the pandemic. Fortunately, several candidate COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and approved for vaccination. However, the success of these vaccines with the subsequent development of herd immunity will be dependent on the acceptance and uptake level. In recent times, there has been a growing anti-vaccine movement, it is therefore imperative to explore the barriers and drivers of uptake of COVID-19 vaccine to help the government, policy makers, and health care workers mitigate the impact of probable low vaccine uptake. OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitude and willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccine among undergraduates in University of Benin with a view to making necessary recommendations to the key stakeholders which will help promote acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among the young population and thus halt the spread of the disease in the school. METHODOLGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was utilized for this study among undergraduates in University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state. Five hundred and fifty respondents were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Data was collected with the use of a structured self – administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed with IBM SPSS version 25.0 and quantitative variables were expressed in tables and charts. RESULTS: The study revealed that 2.5% had good knowledge of COVID-19 vaccine, 67.0% had a positive attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccines, 37.6% were willing to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 Vaccine. As at the time of conducting this study, 2.9% of the respondents had been fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 Vaccine available in Nigeria. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that most of the respondents had poor knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than half of the respondents had positive attitude towards the XVI COVID-19 vaccine but were unwilling to take the COVID-19 vaccine. There is thus a need for public enlightenment aimed at providing right information about the disease and encouraging those that are indecisive or averse to receiving COVID-19 vaccines to get vaccinated. KEYWORDS: Knowledge, Attitude, Willingness, Vaccine, Undergraduates, COVID-19, Benin City
