BackgroundMass vaccination serves as an effective strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy is a recognized impediment to achieving a vaccination rate necessary to protect communities. However, solutions and interventions to address this issue are limited by a lack of prior research.MethodsOver 200 patients from 18 Michigan counties participated in this study. Each participant received an initial survey, including demographical questions and knowledge and opinion questions regarding COVID-19 and vaccines. Participants were randomly assigned an educational intervention in either video or infographic format. Patients received a post-survey to assess changes in knowledge and attitudes. Paired sample t-tests and ANOVA were used to measure the effectiveness of the educational interventions. Participants also elected to complete a 3-month follow-up survey.ResultsPatients showed increased knowledge after the educational intervention in six out of seven COVID-19 topics (p < 0.005). There was increased vaccine acceptance after the intervention but no difference in the effectiveness between the two intervention modalities. Post-intervention, more patients believed in CDC recommendations (p = 0.005), trusted the vaccine (p = 0.001), believed the vaccines had adequate testing (p = 0.019), recognized prior mistreatment in the medical care system (p = 0.005), agreed that a source they trust told them to receive a vaccine (p = 0.015), and were worried about taking time off of work to get a vaccine (p = 0.023). Additionally, post-intervention, patients were less concerned about mild reactions of the virus (p = 0.005), the rapid development of the vaccines (p < 0.001), and vaccine side effects (p = 0.031). Data demonstrated that attitude and knowledge improved when comparing pre-educational intervention to follow-up but decreased from post-intervention to follow-up.ConclusionThe findings illustrate that educational interventions improved COVID-19 and vaccine knowledge among patients and that the knowledge was retained. Educational interventions serve as powerful tools to increase knowledge within communities and address negative views on vaccination. Interventions should be continually utilized to reinforce information within communities to improve vaccination rates.

Context: Mass vaccination serves as a potential solution to combat the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with vaccine hesitancy being a recognized impediment. Collection of data defining the characteristics of healthcare worker (HCW) attitudes towards the vaccine can provide insight into vaccine hesitancy.

Background: Defining the characteristics of healthcare worker (HCW) attitudes toward the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine can provide insights into vaccine hesitancy. This study’s goal is to determine HCWs’ attitudes regarding the COVID-19 vaccination and reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed HCWs working in institutions in Saginaw, Sanilac, and Wayne counties in Michigan (N = 120) using tipping-scale questions. Analysis of variance and t-test were used to measure HCWs’ attitudes toward the COVID-19 virus and vaccines. Results: Most HCWs received (95.9%) and recommended (98.3%) a COVID-19 vaccine. The top three factors that HCWs cited for recommending a COVID-19 vaccine were: (1) efficacy of the vaccine, (2) current exposure to patients with active COVID-19 infection and risk of virus spread, and (3) safety of vaccine and long-term follow-up. Female HCWs or HCWs aged 25–54 years were more concerned about contracting COVID-19. Physicians or HCWs aged 55–64 were less concerned regarding the effectiveness and side effects of the vaccine. Conclusions: Gender, age, ethnicity, provider type, and medical specialty showed statistically significant differences among COVID-19 attitudes. Focusing educational efforts on HCW demographics who are more likely to have negative attitudes can potentially decrease vaccine hesitancy.

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