Abstract
Introduction: New York City is one of the areas most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Healthcare workers are among those at high risk of contracting the virus, and a vital source of information and trust in vaccines to the community. Methods: This study was conducted about attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers at a public hospital in New York City during the beginning of COVID-19 vaccination. 428 hospital employees responded. Results: Several factors were significantly associated with vaccine attitudes, including demographics such as gender (p = 0.002), age (p = 0.005), race (p < 0.001) and home location (p < 0.001), role within the hospital (p < 0.001), knowledge about the virus (p < 0.001) and confidence in and expectations about personal protective equipment and behaviors (p < 0.001). Structural equation modeling revealed that the most predictive factors were prior vaccine attitudes and concern with the speed of testing and approval of the vaccines (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis reinforced these, while also identifying perceived personal risk as significant (p = 0.033). Conclusions: Several modifiable factors that reflect confidence in science, scientific knowledge, personal risk perception, experience and medical authority are correlated with vaccine attitudes, indicating that a holistic educational approach to improve trust in science is likely to be effective in long-term reduction in vaccine hesitancy.
Highlights
IntroductionChina, the pandemic has infected more than 160 million people and claimed more than 3.3 million lives [1]
Since December 2019, when the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus was first reported inWuhan, China, the pandemic has infected more than 160 million people and claimed more than 3.3 million lives [1]
Healthcare workers from a New York City (NYC) public hospital in the South Bronx participated in a cross-sectional study by completing an online survey developed to understand their knowledge, attitude and perceptions about the COVID-19 vaccination
Summary
China, the pandemic has infected more than 160 million people and claimed more than 3.3 million lives [1]. Beyond the disease itself, unprecedented social and economic hardship has unveiled across the globe due to this infection. As of 18 February 2021, at least seven different vaccines across three platforms have been distributed globally according to the. World Health Organization (WHO) [2]. Despite this unprecedented scientific discovery, vaccine hesitancy is seen as a stumbling block towards achieving herd immunity in the battle to control this global pandemic. In 2019, the WHO identified vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats [3,4]. Misinformation, lack of trust in key industry players and poor communication
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