Abstract

Background

As evidence mounted that existing prevention methods would be insufficient to end the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that vaccines would be critical to achieve and maintain lower rates of infection. However, vaccine-hesitant sentiments have become widespread, particularly in populations with lower scientific literacy. Thus, non-science major college students are a critical population of interest for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.  

 

Design

University of Alabama at Birmingham Students in two concurrent non-major biology courses (n=156) in Spring 2021 completed Likert questionnaires and reflections prior to and after an educational intervention addressing vaccine-related concerns. In the module, experts gave presentations about COVID-19 related to microbiology, epidemiological factors, and personal experiences of COVID-19. One class of students completed a podcast-based service-learning project tasked with countering a vaccine misconception. Eight students agreed to participate in post-semester one-on-one interviews.

 

Results

We found an increase in student willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine as well as increased student perception of the COVID-19 vaccines as both safe and effective (Wilcox Rank Sum Test, p<0.05). Further, students were primarily motivated to get a vaccine by a goal of returning to normalcy and personal and community health, however, vaccine-hesitant students still expressed insufficient research and side effects as leading concerns. Students reported the podcast activity encouraged them to draw their own conclusions by evaluating the information themselves.

 

Conclusions

We show expert-led modules and service-learning activities centered around student-teaching may be effective in increasing non-major student willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines.