Abstract
BackgroundVaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers has been increasing especially in France while they are the cornerstone of vaccination programs. Greater understanding of healthcare students (HCS) vaccine knowledge, attitudes and beliefs is necessary to provide an adequate vaccination education to better equip them to promote vaccination in their future careers. The aim of this study was to assess vaccination perception (VP) (perception of benefits and risks of vaccines) and its impact on vaccination coverage (VC) for mandatory and recommended vaccines among HCS.MethodsA standardized, anonymous self-reporting electronic questionnaire was prospectively sent to HCS (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, midwifery, physiotherapy students and 1st year of health sciences students) of Normandy University in France between 18/03/2019 and 8/04/2019. VP was evaluated with questions regarding vaccination hesitancy, safety of vaccine and the benefit/risk balance of vaccination. Global VC (GVC) was defined as being vaccinated according to the mandatory and/or recommended vaccination schedule by national French law in 2018.Results542 HCS took part in this survey. VC was high for mandatory (diphtheriae, poliomyelitis, tetanus 93.5%, hepatitis B virus 88.6%) and even most of recommended vaccinations (measles 95%, pertussis 88.2%). Global VC (40.4%) was not statistically different between HCS except for 1st year health sciences students who were less vaccinated (25.6%). Regarding VP, 97.8% of HCS thought that vaccine are effective. When vaccine safety and level of vaccine hesitancy were assessed (on a 0–10 scale, 0: not safe or not hesitant and 10: completely safe and strongly hesitant for vaccine), 91% of respondents stated that vaccine safety is ≥7 and in 80% the vaccine hesitancy was < 3. There was no difference among student categories. 80.6% of HCS recommended all vaccines but only 52% agreed that flu vaccination should be mandatory for HCS. In the multivariate analysis, being a 1st year health care sciences student was associated with a lower GVC (OR 95% CI = 2 [1.2–3.3], p = 0.004) than being a medical student.ConclusionHCS perceived vaccine as effective and secure. Despite the good perception of vaccines, less than half HCS are well vaccinated.
Highlights
Vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers has been increasing especially in France while they are the cornerstone of vaccination programs
Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is a real challenge for healthcare workers (HCWs), especially general practitioners (GPs), who are the cornerstone of vaccination programs in many countries
All vaccines were recommended by 80.6% of healthcare students (HCS) (437/542) and some vaccines only were recommended by 15.5% (84/542)
Summary
Vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers has been increasing especially in France while they are the cornerstone of vaccination programs. Two French studies, regarding VH of GPs and their practices regarding vaccination, showed that 16 to 43% of them sometimes or never recommended at least one specific vaccine, VH being in in the south-east of France [17, 23]. Their recommendation behaviors depend on their trust in authorities and information sources, their perception of the utility and risks of vaccines, and their comfort in explaining them to patients [17, 23]. Greater understanding of HCS vaccine attitudes and beliefs is necessary to provide an adequate vaccination education to better equip them to promote vaccination in their future careers
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