ABSTRACT
Background: Students play a significant role in delivering effective messages for better uptake of health pro-moting behaviour. Understanding factors that are associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among students will help develop promising strategies in vaccine promotion of the pandemic. The present investigation was undertaken to look into psycho-social drivers of COVID-19 uptake among Indian students.Method: 587 students, aged 18-35 years participated in an online survey. Standardized measures targeting socio-demographic details, health anxiety, preventive health behaviour and constructs of health belief model were used for the present study. Results: The results showed that overall vaccine uptake among students was quite high with nearly 74% of the students reported being vaccinated against COVID-19. Factors like COVID-19 contact, level of education, belief in safety and efficacy of vaccine, social distancing, age, health worry and preoccupation were emerged as the significant drivers of COVID-19 vaccination behaviour increase the probability of vaccine uptake among students. Moreover, factors like Interference with life, Reassurance Seeking, irrational belief about preventive health measures and perceived barriers about vaccination had significant negative link with vaccination de-creasing the likelihood of vaccine uptake. Conclusion: Psychological and socio-demographic factors play vital role in the success of public health strate-gies of COVID-19 vaccine promotion in managing the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background@#Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at most risk of contracting influenza and COVID-19 at their workplace. Despite the well established benefits and strong recommendations for influenza vaccination especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, uptake of this vaccine among HCWs appears to be low and decreasing.@*Objective@#This study aimed to determine the factors that affect the uptake of Influenza vaccine among HCWs in the clinical setting during the COVID-19 pandemic.@*Methods@#A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among physicians and allied staff from a chain of primary care clinics. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice questions covering baseline demographic data, uptake of Influenza vaccine, factors affecting uptake, awareness and perceptions about vaccination. Sample size was 133, with intent to include all HCWs. Independent T-test and Pearson’s Chi-square test were performed to compare the baseline sociodemographic profiles and perception of influenza. Binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the factors associated with influenza uptake.@*Results@#Among 143 participants, 66 were vaccinated. Occupation (p = 0.009) and having been vaccinated with influenza in the past (p<0.001) were significantly associated with influenza vaccine uptake. Physicians were five times more likely to get vaccinated compared to Pharmacists (p = 0.006). Perceptions regarding influenza show no significant association with the uptake of vaccination.@*Conclusion@#Physicians and nurses were more likely to get vaccinated against influenza during the Covid-19 pandemic. Perceived significant exposure to influenza, with direct patient contact or care and more knowledge regarding influenza may be contributory factors. Vaccination may be included not just in company or institutional policies, but also in national health programs. Awareness campaigns can be instituted. Empathy training may help to constantly remind HCWs that they can expose sick patients to influenza and other communicable diseases.
Subject(s)
Influenza Vaccines , Health PersonnelABSTRACT
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of getting influenza than the general population, therefore putting patients at risk of nosocomial infection. Influenza vaccination coverage among HCWs is low despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine. However, the reasons for such a poor uptake are not well reported in Malaysia. This study aimed at assessing the rate of influenza vaccination uptake, knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers regarding influenza, and employers’ policy on influenza vaccination. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in three hospitals in the Klang Valley. Mann–Whitney test was used to assess possible differences in knowledge and attitude towards flu vaccination and the χ2 was used for categorical variables. Analyses were performed with SPSS 22.0. Results: A total of 690 questionnaires were distributed; 527 were returned (giving a response rate of 76.4%. The vaccine uptake was 51.4% with the majority (83.5%) of those believing they were vaccinated to protect themselves. Higher proportion of vaccinated HCWs (p <0.05) agreeing to the fact that influenza is a serious threat to their health, however, 10% were not sure of its safety. Eighty-three (15.7%) claimed their employers did not have a vaccination policy, while 43.3% were not sure if their employers have vaccination policy. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated more than half of the healthcare workers were vaccinated, with a significant proportion of the healthcare workers believed they were vaccinated to protect themselves, while most of those that were not vaccinated claimed they are worried about the safety of the vaccine. Most employers did not have a flu vaccination policy in place. Hence, the need for government to enforce such policy and make annual flu vaccination free and compulsory for all healthcare workers KEY WORDS: