P. Galanis, I. Vraka, D. Fragkou, A. Bilali, D. Kaitelidou
medRxiv, 2020
Background: Considering medical and economic burden of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a high COVID-19 vaccination coverage among health care workers (HCWs) is an urgent need. Objective: To estimate the intention of HCWs to accept COVID-19 vaccination and to find out related factors. Design: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines for this study. Data sources: We searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, CINAHL and medRxiv from January 1, 2020 to December 02, 2020. Methods: The heterogeneity between results was very high and thus we applied a random effect model to estimate pooled effects. We performed subgroup and meta-regression analysis to identify possible resources of heterogeneity. Results: Eleven studies, including 8847 HCWs met the inclusion criteria. The overall proportion of HCWs that intent to accept COVID-19 vaccination was 55.9% (95% CI: 43.6-67.9%) with a wide range among studies from 27.7% to 81.5%. Intention of HCWs to accept COVID-19 vaccination was higher in studies with moderate quality and in studies that were conducted in Europe. The following factors were associated with increased HCWs willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19: male gender, older age, physician profession, fewer work experience, comorbidity among HCWs, seasonal influenza vaccination, stronger vaccine confidence, positive attitude towards a COVID-19 vaccine, fear about COVID-19, individual perceived risk about COVID-19, and contact with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients. Conclusions: HCWs represent a high-risk group for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The reluctance or refusal of HCWs to vaccinate against COVID-19 could diminish the trust of individuals and trigger a ripple effect in the general public. Since vaccination is a complex behavior, understanding the way that HCWs take the decision to accept or not COVID-19 vaccination will give us the opportunity to develop the appropriate interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake. Knowledge of the factors that affect intention of HWCs to accept COVID-19 vaccination is limited and there is an urgent need for further and more valid studies.
Cited by 17 publications.
Field of study: Medicine