COVID-19 Vaccination status among Health care workers diagnosed with COVID-19 in a tertiary care institute of Uttarakhand: A Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Vaccines are considered as the one of the main pillars in halting and ending the presently on-going coronavirus disease (COVID-19 disease) pandemic which has spread globally since it was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019. In the absence of specific therapy, infection prevention practices and mass vaccination remains the mainstay in controlling the disease. Objectives: Objective of the study was to assess COVID-19 vaccination status, socio-demographic and clinical profile among healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey from 1st March 2021 to 30th June 2021 among healthcare workers who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in a tertiary care institute of Uttarakhand, India was conducted, and universal sampling was used. Institutional Ethics Committee approved this study. Results: Total 662 healthcare workers were diagnosed with COVID-19. 429 (64.8%) of these COVID-19 diagnosed healthcare workers had received either single (129,30%) or both dose (300,70%) of COVID-19 vaccine while remaining 233 (35.2%) belonged to non-vaccinated group. History of exposure to COVID-19 positive patients was higher in vaccinated (66.4%) than in non-vaccinated group (55%) (p = 0.004). Hospitalisation was found to be higher among non-vaccinated (5.6%) than vaccinated group (2.3%) (p = 0.029). Conclusions: This study concludes that being vaccinated against COVID-19 disease provides protection against severe infection and reduces the need for hospitalization.