74% of Albanian university students are against mandatory vaccines to attend classes in person and only 31% have been vaccinated, according to a recent survey.
The survey was conducted online by PortaliStudentor.al and the National Student Board (BKS), an independent student organization.
2,262 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the survey, hailing from public and private universities across Albania.
The survey revealed that 74% of students prefer in-person classes over online, and an equal portion are against a government decision that makes vaccination mandatory for those who wish to attend in-person classes. Unvaccinated students can attend classes online.
This decision applies to both students and teachers.
According to the survey, 54% of those students who were vaccinated took the vaccine only because it became mandatory in order to attend classes in person.
However, 66% of the student population said they were not willing to get vaccinated despite the order.
At the same time, 62% of students do not believe that the academic staff will be able to manage a hybrid system of simultaneous in-person and online teaching.
While vaccination has been available to all Albanians over 18, about 28% of the country’s 2.8 million people have been vaccinated to date, one of the lowest rates in the region and in Europe.
