The COVID-19 Pandemic: Teacher Candidates' Views Regarding the Virus and Vaccination Process

In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the COVID-19 pandemic must be ended as soon as possible. Currently, the most critical factor in eliminating the pandemic seems to be the vaccine. Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions and is a cornerstone for communicable disease prevention. Both current teachers and teacher candidates should be competent in the field of health literacy as well as in the education and training process. In this study, we tried to reveal the views of teacher candidates regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines based on the studies reporting that anti-vaccination increased in individuals with more education. Six hundred thirty-eight teacher candidates participated in the study. The research data were collected through an 11-item questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and cross-tabulation analyzes. Research findings mainly showed that vaccine acceptance was low, and most of the participants thought the virus is artificial. Another finding of the research revealed that most of the participants who complied with all the rules regarding COVID-19 did not get the virus; however, it was seen that nearly all of the participants who caught COVID-19 had an infected individual in their family. Given the importance of vaccination, measures should be taken for vaccination hesitation and rejection.