The refusal to be inoculated with the anti-COVID-19 vaccine by a part of the Romanian population becomes a barrier against controlling and stopping this particularly infectious virus. The rapid evolution of COVID-19 vaccines has created confusion regarding health and safety. Many Romanian citizens refuse vaccination because of fears generated by uncertainties based on information obtained from fake news. At the present moment, January 2022, Romania has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union, below 45% of the total population. In our study, we want to identify the determining factors behind the refusal of vaccination, offering a sociological analysis that, we hope, will help to understand this phenomenon. The analysis revealed that 81% of the respondents trust the mandatory vaccines under the national scheme and 57.3% trust the optional ones other than the anti-COVID-19 vaccines (like Rotavirus, Hepatitis A and B, Influenza, Meningococcal, Pneumococcal, etc.) and have less confidence in the anti-COVID-19 vaccines. The study also reveals a very high percentage of respondents who trust fake news claims.
Keywords: COVID-19; medical education; pandemic; vaccination; vaccination refusal.