KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF COVID-19 VACCINE UPTAKE AMONG UNDERGRADUATES OF THE COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCE IN JOSEPH AYO BABALOLA UNIVERSITY, IKEJI- ARAKEJI, OSUN STATE.

As COVID-19 wreaks havoc in nations across the globe, a vaccine is still the best chance to put a stop to the epidemic. Several vaccinations have been produced and approved for use in emergency situations across the globe as of June 2021 (WHO, 2021). The broad aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge, understanding, practice and uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among the undergraduates of college of health sciences of Joseph Ayo Babalola University including safety, efficacy and potential side effects. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional design. A total of 250 respondents were recruited and all the respondents completed the questionnaires and had adequate data for analysis using (SPSS package) 21st edition. The result of this study revealed that the respondents have 176(70.4%) high knowledge and 74(29.6%) low knowledge, understanding, practice, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccine, many of the respondents do not know that covid-19 vaccine is not so effective in preventing the spread of the virus or its variants, do know covid-19 vaccine has short- and long-term health consequences, resources can be made available to be shared effectively between the school and the college to support the initiatives in order to increase vaccine uptake and majority of the respondents agreed educational programs can be designed to enhance understanding of the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, access to the vaccine for all undergraduates of the college of health sciences can improve vaccine uptake and that partnership with primary healthcare providers to improve vaccine distribution can also help with the access to the vaccine. The need for targeted advocacy and educational campaigns to improve student’s knowledge about the vaccine and dispel information. Key words:Assess, Knowledge, Understanding, Undergraduates.