Publication:

Attitude of healthcare workers towards coronavirus 2019 disease vaccine: a hospital based cross-sectional study

Background Healthcare workers are among the first group to receive coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) vaccine, and their attitude towards the vaccine is likely to affect vaccine acceptance among general population. We aimed to study the attitude of HCWs towards COVID-19 vaccine and determine the factors associated with it.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted through a written questionnaire prior to first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the month of January, 2021, at a district hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab. HCWs were categorized as having negative, positive or mixed attitude based on their response to a written questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS version 24.0.

Results More than half of the participants had negative attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine (N=274, 54.5%), while less than a third had positive attitude (N=141, 28.0%) and rest had mixed attitude (N=88, 17.5%). Younger HCWs (<50 years), nurses, females and those living with chronic medical or psychiatric illness showed higher chance of negative attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine, while doctors, paramedical staff, HCWs with higher qualification and urban dwellers had mixed response. On logistic regression analysis, being a female HCW was significantly associated with negative attitude while being a doctor or nurse was significantly associated with mixed attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine. Doubt regarding safety was the commonest response observed among all variables.

Conclusions In the presence of a high proportion of HCWs having negative attitude, targeted interventions should be planned to address specific concerns of HCWs, so as to increase the overall vaccine acceptance for COVID-19 vaccine.