COVID-19 vaccinations among German university students: The role of fear of COVID-19 and risk assessment

Studies on the reasons why people have opted for COVID-19 vaccination have shown that a higher fear of COVID-19 and a higher risk assessment of developing a serious illness in case of a SARS-CoV-2 infection correlate positively with higher vaccine uptake. The present study examined whether this also holds true for university students who face a very low risk of developing a serious illness. Fear of COVID-19, risk assessment, and the number of received COVID-19 vaccinations was measured using an online questionnaire which could be completed from December 15, 2022 to the end of January 2023. In total, data from 419 German university students was analyzed. The results show that the vaccination rate among German university students (93.6%) was higher than the vaccination rate of the general population of the same age group. Even in the group of university students who reported having no fear of COVID-19 at all, the vaccination rate was still 83%, and already the experience of low fear and the estimation of low risk led to the vaccination rate rising to almost 100%. Fear of COVID-19 also increased with the willingness to receive additional vaccinations after the initial two doses, and even in this case, already the experience of low fear was associated with a substantial increase in the rate of double-vaccinated individuals who continued to receive further vaccinations. These findings underline the role of fear in people's decision for COVID-19 vaccination and specifically show that fear can play a substantial role even in groups of people who actually have a very low risk of becoming seriously ill.