Abstract
Vaccine hesitancy remains a serious global threat to achieve herd immunity, and this study aimed to assess the magnitude and associated factors of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Amhara regional referral hospitals. A web-based anonymised survey was conducted among 440 HCWs in the Amhara region referral hospitals. The questionnaire was designed using Google Forms and distributed using telegram and e-mail from 15 May to 10 June 2021 to the randomly selected participants in each hospital. The data were analysed with Stata 14.0 and described using frequency tables. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was fitted and model fitness was checked with the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test. Out of 440 participants, 418 were willing to participate in the study and the mean age was about 30 years. Overall, 45.9% (n = 192) of participants reported vaccine hesitancy. After applying multivariate analysis, age ≤25 years (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 5.6); do not wear a mask (aOR = 2.4); not compliance with physical distancing (aOR = 3.6); unclear information by public health authorities (aOR = 2.5); low risk of getting COVID-19 infection (aOR = 2.8); and not sure about the tolerability of the vaccine (aOR = 3.76) were associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A considerable proportion of HCWs were hesitant towards COVID-19 vaccine, and this can be tackled with the provision of clear information about the vaccine.
Highlights
Due to occupational exposure, healthcare workers (HCWs) are prioritised for early coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccination [1, 2]
This study revealed that the likelihood of vaccine hesitancy among HCWs age ≤25 years was 5.6 times greater than among HCWs categorised at age ≥31 years (aOR 5.6)
The current study showed that HCWs who did not wear masks every time they left home during the COVID-19 pandemic were 2.4 times more reluctant to take the COVID-19 vaccine (aOR 2.4) compared to HCWs who wore masks
Summary
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are prioritised for early coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccination [1, 2]. Different studies among HCWs showed that, a considerable proportion of HCWs were hesitant against COVID-19 vaccination. Studies conducted in different European countries, including UK, Germany, Italy, Greek and France, revealed the magnitude of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in HCWs ranged from 8.3% to 28.4% [3, 10,11,12,13,14]. Vaccine hesitancy among HCWs in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia was 23.9% and 49.5%, respectively [15, 16]. Another two studies conducted in Egypt and Democratic Republic of Congo showed vaccine hesitancy among HCWs was 79% and 72.3%, respectively [8, 17]. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with having a younger age, female sex, ethnic group, having negative attitude towards COVID-19 and its preventive measures, non-reliable information from public health authorities, perceiving low risk for infection and vaccine safety concern [3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16,17,18]
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