Attitude and Behaviors towards SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination among Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study from Poland.

Bartosz Szmyd,Katarzyna Staniecka,Natalia Siwecka,Adrian Bartoszek,Maciej Błaszczyk,Filip Franciszek Karuga,Agnieszka Bartoszek,Maciej Radek

doi:10.3390/vaccines9030218

Bartosz Szmyd, Katarzyna Staniecka + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9030218

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Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Mar 4, 2021
Citations: 114	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Medical University of Lodz, Medical University of Lublin

Abstract

Healthcare workers are particularly exposed to biological risk during their daily occupational activities. Nowadays, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become one of the most widespread infectious agents. In the current study, we performed a survey on the attitude and behavior of Polish healthcare workers (HCW), which comprise physicians (MD) and administrative healthcare assistants (HA) towards the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Our study involved 2300 subjects (42.17% female; 10.96% MD; 5.87% HA). The evaluation was conducted using a Google Forms survey based on original questions and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale—21 Items questionnaire. HCW significantly more often demonstrated their willingness to get vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 as compared to the control group (82.95% vs. 54.31%, respectively). The main concern, as regards all groups, was the development of long-term side effects after getting COVID-19 vaccine. The study revealed that depression significantly affects the willingness to get vaccinated. The readiness was significantly strengthened by positive medical history of recommended vaccinations, fear of catching COVID-19, as well as fear of passing on the disease to the relatives. Overall, the percentage of HCW, who want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 remains unsatisfactory. Further works exploring this subject are needed to take a step closer to achieving the herd immunity in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

The several cases of severe pneumonia of unknown origin that were observed in Wuhan at the end of 2019 have initiated one of the most important events of this century
The condition was referred to as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and it was established that the underlying cause of the disease constitutes a novel coronavirus, classified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]
Most of them studied in the cities with over 500,000 residents: 159 (63.10%)—MD, 51 (37.78%)—healthcare assistants (HA), and 712 (37.22%)

Summary

Introduction

The several cases of severe pneumonia of unknown origin that were observed in Wuhan at the end of 2019 have initiated one of the most important events of this century. The condition was referred to as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and it was established that the underlying cause of the disease constitutes a novel coronavirus, classified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. A race against time in the middle of death and devastation has begun [2]. As it was put by Khuroo et al, “no drug has the power to fight the infection and bring normalcy to the utter chaos”. The only solution for the remaining problem seems to be an effective and safe vaccine, available at an affordable price [2]

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