Availability and Accessibility as Determinant Factors for Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines among National Certificate of Education Students in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Uptake of vaccines is a long term preventive measures against any infectious disease, however it was observed that there was a low patronage of COVID-19 vaccines among the youth in Bauchi State. Therefore, the study assessed availability of Covid-19 vaccines and evaluates its accessibility as determinants of uptake among NCE Students in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design of survey type was used as research design, the population of the study comprised of 8,947 NCE students from the four public Colleges of Education in Bauchi State, Nigeria; the sample for the study was 650 NCE students selected through multi-stage sampling procedure of cluster sampling, simple random sampling, proportionate and convenience sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher developed questionnaire on 4points Likert scale, the instrument was validated by three experts in the field of Health Education for face and content validity; in the same vein, the reliability of the instrument was ascertained through a pilot study using test re-test method with 30 respondents, the result obtained was subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were a coefficient of .82 was obtained. Consent of the respondents was sought before the data collection; the data collected were analysed using one sample t-test. Findings of the study revealed that availability (p=.000) and accessibility (p=.000) were significant determinants of Covid-19 vaccine uptake among NCE students in Bauchi State. It was concluded that availability and accessibility to COVID-19 vaccines were very essential factors in determining the vaccine uptake. It was recommended that the vaccines should be made available in the College clinics of the State for easy access to students and other College community; this will go a long way in motivating them to patronise and use the vaccines.