Abstract
The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disproportionately affected people living and working in care homes. This study aimed to explore the experience of care home managers on the implementation and uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination programme by residents and staff in care homes in Northern Ireland. An exploratory mixed methods approach was used, i.e., semi-structured interviews to design the cross-sectional survey and content analysis of statements using open ended questions. Care home managers were approached and sixty-seven valid quantitative and forty-nine descriptive responses were analysed. The study identified eight themes which described factors that motivated residents (family visits and relationship with managers and staff), and staff vaccine uptake (return to normal life at work and trust in care home managers). The identified themes also confirmed that vaccine uptake is negatively influenced by perceived side effects. The findings indicated that social media can promote or decelerate the uptake of vaccine despite the accessibility to a successful vaccination programme. The study highlights the important role of managers in handling the challenges through building trust and establishing relationships with staff and residents. The findings identified challenges to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine by staff and residents that can inform the implementation of future vaccination programmes.
Highlights
Since the emergence of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people living and working in care homes have been disproportionately affected [1,2,3]
Results regarding COVID-19 vaccination uptake by residents showed that residents believed that the vaccine would help life to return to normal (μ = 4.95, p < 0.001), relatives of residents were keen for their family to be given the vaccine (μ = 5.24, p < 0.0001), residents were keen to take the vaccine (μ = 4.98, p < 0.001), residents and their relatives were kept informed by the care home (μ = 5.41, p < 0.0001), and residents and their families trusted the opinion of the care home manager regarding the vaccination programme (μ = 4.75, p < 0.0001; Table 3)
In relation to uptake level of COVID-19 vaccination programme by staff, respondents agreed with the following statements: it is important that management encourage and support staff to take the vaccine (μ = 4.94, p < 0.0001), staff concerns regarding side effects of the vaccine were a barrier to uptake (μ = 4.56, p < 0.0001), and staff under 40 years were less likely to take the vaccine (μ = 4.15, p = 0.014)
Summary
Since the emergence of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people living and working in care homes have been disproportionately affected [1,2,3]. Residents in care homes live in close accommodations and have frequent contact with staff, increasing the risk of disease transmission and outbreaks [10,11,12]. Given the increased risk of outbreaks, morbidity, and mortality in the care home setting, the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) advised that care home residents should be the highest priority for vaccination [16], and that vaccination of staff at the same time would offer a highly efficient strategy [15]. Successful implementation of a vaccine programme in the care home sector is dependent on successful resident and staff uptake of approved vaccines. A pilot study in four care homes in NI showed variations in vaccine uptake, for both the first and second doses, amongst residents and staff, warranting further assessment on a larger scale [17]
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