Vaccine Hesitancy During the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign: a Cross-Sectional Survey among Bulgarian University Students

The success and timely control of the pandemic depend on the vaccination status of the population. Even when vaccines are available, refusal to vaccinate would doom all health strategies to failure. Our aim was to assess the willingness of Bulgarian university students to take vaccine against COVID-19. More than two hundred and thirty students were enrolled in an anonymous survey. A small percentage (28.63%) would agree to be vaccinated. The majority of them would choose either an RNA or a vector-based vaccine (58.21% vs. 56.72%). Differences between the responses of male and female respondents were noted, as well as between medical and non-medical students. Our results revealed an alarming trend of vaccine refusal. Therefore, immediate measures must be taken to reverse this tendency.