Abstract
Background- Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has affected more than 200 countries, creating havoc throughout the world. The accelerated development of the Covid-19 vaccine is thus vital development which created a milestone in the field of health. Vaccine hesitancy among the medical students and professionals might be a significant obstacles in implementing the vaccination drive programme. Objectives: 1) To assess the perception of medical students regarding COVID-19 vaccine. 2) To estimate the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine among medical students of VIMSAR, Burla. 3) To determine the association of various factors with the perceptions and acceptability of COVID-19.Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study conducted for a period of 3months i.e August-October 2022 among the MBBS students of VIMSAR, Burla. The total sample size was 847. Results: 99.4%. of the students accepted Covid-19 as a fatal disease & almost all of the students had heard and know about COVID-19 vaccine but 93.3% among them think the vaccine will prevent the disease and build the immunity but 77.4% accept the vaccine to be safe and effective. Social media(94.3%) and news channel(94.6%) were the most common source of information for them. Covid-19 vaccine was taken by 728(86%) of students. Regarding the adverse events following immunisation only 34.4% of the students have heard it.. The 1st year batch students had least perception & acceptability on COVID-19 vaccine whereas maximum was seen among the final year students . The association between the various batches of MBBS students with the perception & acceptability on COVID-19 was found to be significant with chi-square value 123.4981 & 109.1895 respectively with P=0.001.Conclusion- Even though perception and acceptability about COVID-19 vaccine among the students is good but regarding the adverse events following immunisation many are unaware and are having lots of apprehension which could be dealt with proper sensitisation meetings.

Key words: Acceptability ,Covid-19 , vaccine , Perception, students