Abstract
Because health care workers are a reliable source of health information, their acceptance or rejection of COVID-19 vaccines can influence the general population's uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. In this study, we sought to determine the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines among health care workers in Ghana. Using a cross-sectional design, we collected data from 234 health care workers through a self-administered online survey from 16 January to 15 February 2021. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were performed using STATA version 15. The findings revealed that 39.3% (n = 92) of health care workers intended to receive the COVID-19 vaccines. Factors such as sex (AOR = 0.451; CI 95% 0.240–0.845;p=0.013), category of health care workers (AOR = 2.851; 95 CI%: 1.097–7.405;p=0.031), relative being diagnosed with COVID-19 (AOR = 0.369; CI 95% 0.145–0.941;p=0.037), and trust in the accuracy of the measures taken by the government in the fight against COVID-19 (AOR = 2.768; CI 95%: 1.365–5.616;p=0.005) proved to be significant predictors of the acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine. Concerns about the safety of vaccines (n = 93, 65.5%) and the adverse side effects of the vaccines (n = 23, 14.8%) were identified as the main reasons why health care workers would decline uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana. The self-reported low intention of health care workers in Ghana to accept COVID-19 vaccines necessitates an urgent call from the Government of Ghana and other stakeholders to address health care workers' concerns about the safety and adverse side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, as this would increase vaccine uptake. Interventions must also take into consideration sex and the category of health care workers to achieve the desired results.
Highlights
In March 2020, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic after its emergence in Wuhan, China, in November 2019
Out of the 234 health care workers who participated in the study, about two-fifths (n 92, 39.3%) of them indicated acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines if available while more than half (n 142, 60.7%) indicated non-acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines if available
Variables that were significant at the bivariate level were included in the model. e results showed that sex, category of health care workers, relatives been diagnosed with COVID-19, and trust in the accuracy of measures taken by the government in the fight against COVID-19 were significantly associated with acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine
Summary
In March 2020, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic after its emergence in Wuhan, China, in November 2019. Several studies have demonstrated that not all health care workers are ready to accept COVID-19 vaccines when made available in their country [14,15,16]. About 39.3% of health care workers trusted the appropriateness of the economic measures taken with COVID-19 while a higher proportion (n 93, 39.8%) disagreed with the statement that Ghana is more successful than the western countries in the fight against COVID-19.
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