1 in 10 hospital employees have no intention of receiving COVID-19 vaccine
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Ten percent of employees at two hospitals in Philadelphia said they did not intend to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, survey data published in Vaccine showed.
“Vaccine acceptance among health care professionals will be important in establishing confidence in the general public in these new vaccines,” Barbara J. Kuter, PhD, MPH, of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues wrote.
Researchers sent a confidential, voluntary survey to 34,865 health care employees — regardless of the employee’s clinical role — between Nov. 13, 2020, and Dec. 6, 2020, at two academic hospitals in Philadelphia. One served pediatric patients and the other served adults. Survey takers were asked to assume that COVID-19 would continue to spread in the United States for the “next few months” and that the COVID-19 vaccine would be at least 50% effective, administered at no cost, receive an emergency use authorization from the FDA and would be recommended for health care workers by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Kuter and colleagues reported that of the 11,760 survey respondents (7,271 of them from the children’s hospital) who answered questions about their intent to get the vaccine, 63.7% said they planned to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it became available, 26.3% were unsure and 10% did not plan to get vaccinated. The most common reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated included concerns about side effects (89.1%), the vaccine being too new (84%), having insufficient knowledge about the vaccine (77.9%), doubts about its effectiveness (32.9%), and fear that the vaccine would give them COVID-19 (25.4%).
In an adjusted analysis, hospital employees who planned to get vaccinated were more likely to be older, male, more educated, Asian or white, up to date on other vaccinations, did not have direct patient contact and had been tested for COVID-19 in the past.
“To the best of our knowledge, this survey ... is the largest study conducted to assess intent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in health care workers to date,” Kuter and colleagues wrote.
“Our results highlight prevalent concerns that can be addressed as well as beliefs that can be leveraged through educational initiatives about the safety, efficacy and value of COVID-19 vaccination.”
The researchers suggested that hospital employees share their personal COVID-19 vaccination stories with vaccine-hesitant co-workers to increase uptake.
Perspective
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Reports from the CDC indicate about only one-third of health care workers in long-term care facilities intend to be vaccinated. Therefore, the proportion of health system employees nationwide — clinical or not — who are COVID-19 vaccine hesitant is likely higher than the 10% Kuter and colleagues report.
Before vaccines became available in my own medical center, we anecdotally heard and small surveys later confirmed that there was a lot of skepticism among our physicians and staff about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. To bring the number of vaccine acceptors up, we undertook a comprehensive educational program. We produced videos that answered individual employee questions, and we conducted listening tours with everyone — from custodians all the way up to the executive suite and everyone in between. We reassured a lot of people from underrepresented groups and others that the only significant adverse event tied to the COVID-19 vaccine that has come up are allergic reactions, but even those are extremely rare.
Once we took all these steps, we saw hesitators become acceptors right before our eyes. Turns out, most hesitators wanted a sense of reassurance from someone they knew and respected that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine was the right thing to do. We have now turned our attention to reassuring young women, because there’s so much nonsense on the internet about how these vaccines interfere with the capacity to become pregnant. Our female faculty, particularly those in maternal-fetal medicine, are taking the lead in these outreach activities. We are hoping that over time our efforts will have a positive effect.
I feel strongly that all health care professionals should be vaccinated. Most health care workers who are diagnosed with COVID-19 have acquired it in their communities, not in the place where they work. By being vaccinated, health care professionals can help provide a safer environment both in and outside the workplace.
Professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Medical director, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases
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