Varicella-zoster virus from herpes virus family causes two different clinical presentations including chickenpox and shingles. Chickenpox is an infectious disease which can be prevented by vaccination and may cause serious complications in adults and in patients with severe immune deficiency. Medical staff without immunization are also at risk for chickenpox. Obstetric clinics, newborn clinics or clinics where the patients are treated with immunosuppressive therapy are especially important units for chickenpox and medical students work in these clinics for variable terms. It has been reported that medical students might occasionally be the source of chickenpox infection. Therefore, it is known that medical student vaccination against the chickenpox is a preventive measure for both healthcare staff and patients. This study has been conducted to evaluate the adoption of varicella vaccine and attitudes on vaccine-related side effects in medical students. 80 medical students from Hacettepe University Medical Faculty with no chickenpox or immunization history (varicella zoster IgG class antibodies were negative) were vaccinated against chickenpox between January 2014 and December 2014. A questionnaire of six questions was responded by the participants via phone call after 1 to 2 months after vaccination. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and data were presented by descriptive statistics and Independent-Samples T-Test. The study was completed with a total of 61 medical students consisting of 25 male (41%) and 59 female (59%) students that were contacted by phone call. The average age of the students was 22.6 (22-24) years. Most common adverse side effect was the pain at the vaccination area (47.8%). All students agreed to take the next dose despite the side effects. 13 of the participants (21.3%) explained that the most important reason of their consent for the vaccination was because it was recommended by pediatric infectious disease specialists. 35 of the students (57.4%) expressed that they would not give consent for the vaccination if it was not free of charge. There was no discernable difference in terms of vaccination consent between males and females. More than half of the participants stated that they would back out from getting vaccinated if it was not free of charge. Some of them gave consent for vaccination after the recommendation of pediatric infectious disease specialists. According to our study, the price of vaccination and the recommendation of pediatric infectious disease specialists are important for the adoption of varicella vaccine in medical students.

Keywords: medical student, attitude, chickenpox, vaccination