ArticlePeerJ2022
Evaluation of knowledge and barriers of influenza vaccine uptake among university students in Saudi Arabia; a cross-sectional analysis.
Article in PeerJ, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on influenza vaccination rates among healthcare workers and the general population in Saudi Arabia: A meta-analysis.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Pooled it
- Vaccination Adherence and Barriers Among Non-healthcare Workers and Volunteers During the Hajj.Cureus · 2026Article
- Risk perception and influenza vaccine hesitancy among university students in Saudi Arabia.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Practices and barriers associated with administration of influenza (flu) vaccination among the general population of UAE.Journal of education and health promotion · 2025Article
- Why do older adults hesitate to get the flu vaccine? A cross-sectional study on vaccine hesitancy in the post-COVID-19 era.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A cross-sectional study on the understanding and attitudes toward influenza and influenza vaccines among different occupational groups in China.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2024Article
- Vaccine Hesitancy in Israel: Exploring the Relationships with Vaccination History, Knowledge, and Attitudes towards Influenza Vaccines.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- Influenza vaccine hesitancy and influencing factors among university students in China: a multicenter cross-sectional survey.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- The Association between Levels of Trust in the Healthcare System and Influenza Vaccine Hesitancy among College Students in Israel.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Hesitance and Misconceptions about the Annual Influenza Vaccine among the Saudi Population Post-COVID-19.Vaccines · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Vaccination among a Population Experiencing Homelessness: A Survey in Italy.Vaccines · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Influenza vaccine hesitancy is a significant threat to global maneuvers for reducing the burden of seasonal and pandemic influenza. This study estimated the vaccine uptake, barriers, and willingness for influenza vaccines among university students in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among health science (HS) and non-health science (NHS) university students. A 31-item questionnaire was used to ascertain the vaccination rate, barriers, and willingness for the flu vaccine. Results: This study included 790 students (mean age: 21.40 ± 1.94 years), 246 (31.1%) from HS and 544 (68.9%) from NHS disciplines. About 70% did not take flu shots before the arrival of the winter. The mean knowledge score was 7.81 ± 1.96, where 20.4%, 67.6%, and 12% of respondents had good, moderate, and poor knowledge regarding flu vaccines. The relative importance index (RII) analysis showed a lack of recommendation from physicians (51.5%, RI ranked: 1) was a top-ranked barrier to vaccine uptake, followed by negative perceptions and accessibility issues. Only 36.6% of the participants were willing to get vaccinated every year, 70% were willing to receive a vaccine on their doctor's recommendations, and 46% agreed to vaccinate if vaccines were freely available in the university. The knowledge, barriers, and willingness widely varied across students from two disciplines. Conclusions: Our analysis underscored low flu vaccine uptake among university students. In addition, the study participants' knowledge was unsatisfactory, and they were less inclined to receive the flu vaccine in the future. Lack of recommendation from the physicians, negative perceptions towards the flu vaccine, and difficult accessibility were found as significant barriers to the vaccine uptake. A multidimensional approach at educational institutes to cover the knowledge gap and address the barriers curtailing the vaccination rate among students is recommended.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.