COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among health care workers, communication, and policy-making

Authors

Stephanie M. Toth-Manikowski, Division of Nephrology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Eric S. Swirsky, Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Rupali Gandhi, Advocate Aurora HealthFollow
Gina Piscitello, Department of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL USA. Electronic address: Gina_Piscitello@rush.edu.

Recommended Citation

Toth-Manikowski SM, Swirsky ES, Gandhi R, Piscitello G. COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among health care workers, communication, and policy-making. Am J Infect Control. 2022;50(1):20-25. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2021.10.004

Affiliations

Advocate Children's Hospital's Heart Institute

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers (HCWs) contributes to personal and patient risk in contracting COVID-19. Reasons behind hesitancy and how best to improve vaccination rates in HCWs are not clear.

Methods: We adapted a survey using the Health Belief Model framework to evaluate HCW vaccine hesitancy and reasons for choosing for or against COVID-19 vaccination. The survey was sent to three large academic medical centers in the Chicagoland area between March and May 2021.

Results: We received 1974 completed responses with 85% of HCWs receiving or anticipating receiving COVID-19 vaccination. Multivariable logistic regression found HCWs were less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccination if they were Black (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.15-0.80), Republican (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.31-0.91), or allergic to any vaccine component (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.10-0.70) and more likely to receive if they believed people close to them thought it was important for them to receive the vaccine (OR 5.2, 95% CI 3-8).

Conclusions: A sizable number of HCWs remain vaccine hesitant one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. As HCWs are positively influenced by colleagues who believe COVID-19 vaccination, development of improved communication across HCW departments and roles may improve vaccination rates.

Type

Article

PubMed ID

34653527