ABSTRACT:

Background: Hepatitis B is a global health problem. Medical students are exposed to occupational risk of Hepatitis B virus. The aim of this study was to determine coverage, associated factors and perception on hepatitis B vaccination among medical students at Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS)

Method: This was a cross sectional study, conducted at Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS) in Mwanza among medical students who were eligible. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 26.

Results: Out of 250 medical students included in the study 135 (54%) medical students received the vaccination and only 103(41.2%) received full course vaccination against HBV. The most common reason mentioned for not being vaccinated was its high cost 61(53.0%) followed by fear of contracting the virus from the vaccine 17(14.8%), not knowing where to go and receive the vaccine 14(12.2%). Also the years of study was found to have significant association with vaccination status (P=0.004) in such a way that students from fourth and fifth year were more likely to be vaccinated compared to the rest.

Conclusions: Despite adequate knowledge on HBV infection and vaccination only 42.1% of medical students had been completely vaccinated. This low rate of vaccination may be related to expensiveness of the vaccine and lack of programs to promote HBV vaccination. Given low vaccination coverage and high risk of HBV infections, continued efforts are needed to increase the vaccine coverage among unvaccinated medical students to protect themselves from HBV. And this can be achieved by making the vaccine readily available and at affordable prices or free to all medical schools and hospitals.