Introduction and aim: Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal are two of the most important health threats, the frequency of which has increased in recent years. The confusion caused by both the imbalances in access to the vaccine and the information pollution in the Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced this hesitation. In this study, the level of vaccine hesitancy in university students and the factors affecting it were investigated.

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the university students between December 2021 and March 2022 were included. The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were recorded and the Vaccine Hesitancy in Pandemics Scale was applied.

Results: Of 388 students participated in the study, 239 (63.2%) were female and 139 (36.8%) were male. No significant correlation was found between the sociodemographic characteristics of the students and their vaccination hesitancy scores. A significant negative correlation was found between the total vaccine doses of the vaccinated students and both the lack of confidence subscale and the risk subscale (r=-0.155 and p=0.003, respectively; r=-0.124 and p=0.016). While the lack of confidence subscale scores of students with only BioNTech were found to be significantly lower than those with only Sinovac, no significant difference was observed with those with Sinovac+BioNTech (respectively p=0.004 and p=0.053). It was observed that the different views of healthcare professionals about the vaccine caused hesitation in 194 (50%) of the participants.

Discussion and conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy is common among university students, who are one of the highest levels of health literacy. Insecurity in vaccination affects vaccination rates. Directing students to accurate scientific information about vaccines will contribute to the improvement of social perception.