Vaccination against COVID-19: the opinion of healthcare professionals

ABSTRACT

A prerequisite for effective vaccination is the formation of proper collective immunity in society. The attitudes of healthcare professionals towards vaccination directly impact the population's adherence to this method. Objective. To study the attitude of healthcare professionals toward COVID-19 vaccination. Material and methods. The sociological survey method with the author's questionnaire based on GoogleForm was used. In the sur-vey, 450 physicians aged 25 to 70 participated voluntarily. It was a cross-sectional study carried out in the autumn of 2021. Results. Of those surveyed, the majority (86.8%) of physicians and almost all (96.1%) nurses were vaccinated against COVID-19. When studying the motivation for vaccine prophylaxis, a direct average strength of a statistically significant correlation between the adherence to COVID-19 vaccination and the emergence of a sense of safety was established (rxy =0.346;p<0.05). The most common reasons for the refusal of doctors from vaccination were the fear of complications, beliefs about low protection against infection and the subsequent decrease in immunity. According to healthcare professionals, the most effective means of prevention, in descending order, were a healthy lifestyle, the absence of fear of becoming ill, vaccination, drugs that stimulate immunity, the use of barrier measures, and other means. Conclusion. The ambiguous attitude of healthcare professionals towards vaccination against COVID-19 does exist and deserves the closest attention. Considering the issue's complexity, further research on the attitude of healthcare professionals toward vaccination is required.Copyright © 2023, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.