Background: Over a year of the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there is now the development of COVID-19 vaccines with various developers. In Thailand, there are two developers; Sinovac and AstraZeneca. Due to the limited supply, the government of Thailand announced the first very first group to be vaccinated is health workers and persons younger than 18 were not recommended to take the vaccine. According to the Thailand situation, knowing the willingness of Grade 12 students is important because they are the next group of people to take the vaccine. The government should consider the factors that make them or make them not take the vaccine for the country to pass through the COVID-19.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and understanding regarding COVID19, risk perception of getting COVID-19, level of news perception about COVID-19, and the concern with the willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 among grade 12 students of Chonkanyanukoon school.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted using a questionnaire in April 2021. A total of 246 students participated. Questions related to knowledge and understanding regarding COVID19, risk perception of getting COVID-19, level of news perception about COVID-19, and the concern with a willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 were assessed. Differences between outcomes and socio-demographics were analyzed through independent t-test and the ANOVA. For the willingness to vaccinate was analyzed by a generalized linear model. This study is quantitative research, which involves developing a survey. The survey is in the format of Google Forms which was developed from March 01 to April 27, 2021, and was sent out to Grade 12 students of Chonkanyanukoon school, Chonburi, Thailand students on April 08. The survey was voluntary and 246 responses were received.
Results: Students revealed good knowledge and understanding regarding COVID-19, correctly answering 8.5 scores (standard deviation [S.D.] = 1.64) from 10 questions, moderate level of risk perception at an average score of 17.17 (S.D. = 5.99) out of 25 questions, and a high Level of COVID-19 news perception which the average score of 7.97 (S.D. = 1.48) from ten questions and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 with the average score of 3.10 (S.D. = 1.73) out of five questions. The news perceptions of COVID-19 (Beta = 0.314, P = 0.01) and the chance of contracting COVID-19 (Beta= 0.130, P = 0.01).
Conclusion: This study provides useful data to identify the probability of the students taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Consistency is essential to promote good knowledge and attitude in taking the COVID19 vaccine.
Key words: Coronavirus Disease-19; Coronavirus Infection; Health Knowledge; Coronavirus Disease-19 Vaccine; High School Student
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