IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i5p2879-d762035.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Attitudes toward Vaccinations and Vaccination Coverage Rates among Dental Students in Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Helena C. Maltezou

    (Directorate of Research, Studies and Documentation, National Public Health Organization, 15123 Athens, Greece)

  • Christos Rahiotis

    (School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece)

  • Maria Tseroni

    (Directorate of Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases, National Public Health Organization, 15123 Athens, Greece)

  • Phoebus Madianos

    (School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece)

  • Ioannis Tzoutzas

    (School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece)

Abstract

Our aim was to study attitudes toward vaccinations, full vaccination rates and susceptibility rates against vaccine-preventable diseases among students attending a University Dental School. A total of 134 students were studied. Full vaccination rates were as follows: 56.5% against measles and mumps, 70.6% against rubella, 32.3% against varicella, 44.1% against hepatitis A, 45.9% against hepatitis B, and 87.7% against COVID-19. In the past decade, 63.2% of students had received a booster shot against tetanus–diphtheria, 47.8% against pertussis, and 28.1% against poliomyelitis, while 29.4% of students had been vaccinated against influenza in the past year. Susceptibility rates were 40.4% for measles, 42.4% for mumps, 28.3% for rubella, 32.3% for varicella, 55.3% for hepatitis A, 54.1% for hepatitis B, 36.8% for tetanus–diphtheria, 52.2% for pertussis, and 71.9% for poliomyelitis. Overall, 123 (91.8%) students favored mandatory vaccinations, mainly for all dentists (88.4%), while 11.6% of students favored them only for dentists who provide care to high-risk patients. In conclusion, most dental students favored mandatory vaccinations, yet we found significant vaccination gaps and susceptibility rates against vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccinations for dental students should be intensified. A national vaccination registry for healthcare personnel including dental students is urgently needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Helena C. Maltezou & Christos Rahiotis & Maria Tseroni & Phoebus Madianos & Ioannis Tzoutzas, 2022. "Attitudes toward Vaccinations and Vaccination Coverage Rates among Dental Students in Greece," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-9, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:2879-:d:762035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2879/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2879/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rebecca Malsam & Albert Nienhaus, 2021. "Occupational Infections among Dental Health Workers in Germany—14-Year Time Trends," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Helena C. Maltezou & Eleni Ioannidou & Koen De Schrijver & Guido François & Antoon De Schryver, 2021. "Influenza Vaccination Programs for Healthcare Personnel: Organizational Issues and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-9, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Md Irteja Islam & Shah Saif Jahan & Mohammad Tawfique Hossain Chowdhury & Samia Naz Isha & Arup Kumar Saha & Sujan Kanti Nath & Mohammed Shahed Jahan & Md. Humayun Kabir & Ehsanul Hoque Apu & Russell , 2022. "Experience of Bangladeshi Dental Students towards Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-13, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Turska-Szybka & Maria Prokopczyk & Piotr Winkielman & Dorota Olczak-Kowalczyk, 2021. "Knowledge and Attitude of Polish Dental Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:2879-:d:762035. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.