Covid-19 vaccine confidence and hesitancy in nursing students and faculty at a large academic medical center.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about nursing faculty and nursing student's confidence or potential hesitancy to receive the Covid-19 vaccine once it was available. METHODS: An anonymous electronic survey of nursing students and faculty was conducted at a large academic center in the eastern U.S. FINDINGS: Both students and faculty reported they were fairly or completely confident that the vaccine was safe (n = 235, 89.4%) and that it would effectively mitigate their risk (n = 230, 87.5%). There was a 52.6% decrease in vaccine hesitancy from 6 months prior (p <.01); 22% (n = 58) of those currently willing to receive the vaccine reported moderate to high concern about its side-effects and/or long-term efficacy. Access to vaccine research, vaccine education, and watching others be inoculated, had mitigated their concerns from the previous six months. DISCUSSION: While both nursing students and faculty reported having high confidence in the efficacy and safety of the Covid-19 vaccine, concerns remained.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake among Nursing Staff during an Active Vaccine Rollout.

Even with the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and uptake among nurses are unknown. This study evaluated COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and uptake of nursing staff during one of the first COVID-19 vaccine rollouts in the United States. A cross-sectional survey was conducted during February 2021 among nursing staff working in a large medical center in central United States. There were 276 respondents; 81.9% of participants were willing to receive the vaccine during the initial rollout, 11.2% were hesitant, and only 5.1% were unwilling. The hesitant group was likely to report having inadequate information to make an informed decision about whether to receive the vaccine (45.2%) and about vaccine expectations (32.3%). The majority (83.3%) received at least one dose of the vaccine. Having greater than 10 years' work experience (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.16-7.9) and confidence in vaccine safety (OR 7.78, 95% CI 4.49-13.5) were significantly associated with vaccine uptake. While our study indicates higher vaccine uptake among nursing staff during an active vaccine rollout, there remains sustained hesitancy and unwillingness to uptake. For those hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, public health efforts to provide more data on side effects and efficacy may help increase vaccine uptake.