An Exploratory Study of Influenza Vaccination Coverage in Healthcare Workers in a Western Chinese City, 2018-2019: Improving Target Population Coverage Based on Policy Interventions.

Lili Xu,Jiandong Zheng,Xiaojin Ding,Hailan Cao,Zhibin Peng,Yan Shi,Binzhong Ma,Jinhua Zhao,Luzhao Feng,Huayi Zhang,Yongcheng Ma,Yonghong Li,Huaxiang Feng

doi:10.3390/vaccines8010092

Lili Xu, Jiandong Zheng + Show 11 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8010092

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Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Feb 19, 2020
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate a policy-based intervention to increase seasonal-influenza-vaccination coverage in healthcare workers in Xining, a city in Western China. Methods: From October 2018 to March 2019, we implemented a free vaccination policy in healthcare workers in Xining. A face-to-face interview with the head of the infection control department and an online survey for medical staff in four tertiary medical facilities was conducted to understand both the implementation of the free policy and influenza vaccination coverage. Possible factors for influenza vaccination among healthcare workers (physician, nurses working on the front-line, HCWs) were investigated by multivariate-logistic regression. Results: Coverage in two hospitals that implemented the free vaccination policy was 30.5% and 25.9%, respectively, which was statistically different to hospitals that did not implement the free policy (7.2% and 8.7%, respectively) (χ2 = 332.56, p < 0.0001). Among vaccinated healthcare workers, 65.5% and 48.6% reported their main reasons for vaccination were a convenient vaccination service and awareness of the free vaccination policy. The reasons for not being vaccinated among the 3389 unvaccinated healthcare workers included: the inconvenient vaccination service (33.8%), believing vaccination was unnecessary (29.7%), concerns about adverse reactions to the vaccine (28.8%), and having to pay for the vaccine (25.6%). Conclusions: Implementing the free vaccination policy, combined with improving the accessibility of the vaccination service, increased seasonal-influenza vaccination-coverage in healthcare workers in Xining.

Highlights

Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the influenza virus, and leads to between 290,000 and 650,000 deaths globally every year [1]
Hard to quantify the risk, healthcare workers infected with influenza, regardless of whether they have influenza-like symptoms, may contribute to the nosocomial transmission of infection to their patients
The results show that Healthcare workers (HCWs) who were provided with free vaccines and vaccination services in hospitals was 8.80 times

Summary

Introduction

Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the influenza virus, and leads to between 290,000 and 650,000 deaths globally every year [1]. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of influenza infection because of their occupational exposure to infected patients. A systematic review has shown that healthcare workers who are not vaccinated have a 3.4 times higher risk of developing. In addition to morbidity among healthcare workers, influenza infection may lead to increased absenteeism, presenteeism and disruption of medical services [3,4]. Hard to quantify the risk, healthcare workers infected with influenza, regardless of whether they have influenza-like symptoms, may contribute to the nosocomial transmission of infection to their patients. It can lead to the occurrence of severe influenza and complications, especially in high-risk groups. Previous studies have shown that a high percentage of healthcare workers infected with influenza continue to work after developing influenza-like symptoms [5]

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