BACKGROUND: Experiencing the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, high vaccination coverage by a safe and effective vaccine globally would be a great achievement. Acceptance of vaccination by nursing students is an important issue as they play a decisive role as future professionals in educating patients, counselling, and guiding them to the right clinical decision. OBJECTIVES: To explore the intention of nursing students to get vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 infection and the factors acting either as motivators or as barriers towards vaccination. DESIGN: A multicenter cross-sectional design. PARTICIPANTS: In total 2249 undergraduate nursing students participated. METHODS: The study was conducted in 7 universities in participating countries (Greece, Albania, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, and Kosovo) through a web survey. Data was collected during December 2020-January 2021 in all countries. RESULTS: Forty three point 8% of students agreed to accept a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, while the acceptance was higher among Italian students. The factors for intention to get vaccinated were male gender (p = 0.008), no working experience in healthcare facilities during the pandemic (p = 0.001), vaccination for influenza in 2019 and 2020 (p < 0.001), trust in doctors (p < 0.001), governments and experts (p = 0.012), high level of knowledge (p < 0.001) and fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Understanding of factors that influence students' decision to accept COVID-19 vaccination could increase the acceptance rate contributing to a management of the pandemic.

Clinic of Social and Family Medicine School of Medicine University of Crete Crete Greece; Department of Healthcare Faculty of Health University of Vlora Vlora Albania

Degree Course in Nursing University of Modena and Reggio Emilia seat of Reggio Emilia Department of Surgery Medicine Dentistry and Morphological Sciences Reggio Emilia Italy

Degree Course in Nursing University of Modena and Reggio Emilia seat of Reggio Emilia Department of Surgery Medicine Dentistry and Morphological Sciences Reggio Emilia Italy; Degree Course in Nursing Azienda USL IRCCS di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia Italy

Department of Healthcare Faculty of Health University of Vlora Vlora Albania

Department of Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Medicine University of Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Nursing Frederick University Nicosia Cyprus

Department of Nursing School of Health Sciences Hellenic Mediterranean University Crete Greece

Department of Psychology and Social Sciences Frederick University Nicosia Cyprus

Faculty of Nursing AAB College Kosovo

Faculty of Physiotherapy and Nursing IMCU Group University of Castilla La Mancha Toledo Spain

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens Greece

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