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Aim To assess health care workers’ compliance with infection prevention and control measures in different health care sectors in Qatar during COVID‐19 pandemic. Background Being the first line of defense against COVID‐19 infection, health care workers are particularly at increased risk of getting infected. Compliance with infection prevention and control measures is essential for their safety and the safety of patients. Methods A web‐based national survey was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021 targeting all health care workers in governmental, semi‐governmental, and private health care sectors. Results Of 1757 health care workers, 49.9% were between 30‐39 years of age, majority (47.5%) were nurses. Participants reported a significant increase in the median self‐rated compliance scores during the pandemic compared to before it ( p <0.001). During the pandemic, 49.7% of health care workers were fully compliant with personal protective equipment (PPE) use, 83.1% were fully compliant with hand hygiene. Overall, 44.1% were fully compliant with infection prevention and control measures (PPE and hand hygiene). Nationality, health sector, profession, and frequency of interactions with suspected or confirmed COVID‐19 cases were significantly associated with compliance with overall infection prevention and control measures. The most reported barriers were work overload, and shortages of PPE and handwashing agents. Conclusions Compliance of health care workers with infection prevention and control measures needs further improvement. Implications for Nursing Management Frequent quality checks, provision of adequate supplies, and behavior change interventions are recommended strategies for hospital and nursing administrators to improve health care workers’ compliance.

A number of studies reported that influenza vaccination is associated with lower risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and/or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) morbidity and mortality. We conducted a matched, test-negative, case-control study to estimate effectiveness of influenza vaccination, using Abbott’s quadrivalent Influvac Tetra vaccine, against SARS-CoV-2 infection and against severe COVID-19. The study was implemented on a population of 30,774 healthcare workers (HCWs) in Qatar during the 2020 annual influenza vaccination campaign, between September 17, 2020 and December 31, 2020, before introduction of COVID-19 vaccination. The median age in the matched samples was 36 years (interquartile range (IQR), 32-44) for cases and 35 years (IQR, 32-42) for controls. The median duration between influenza vaccination and the PCR test was 43 days (IQR, 29-62). The estimated effectiveness of influenza vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection >14 days after receiving the vaccine was 29.7% (95% CI: 5.5-47.7%). The estimated effectiveness of influenza vaccination against any severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19 was 88.9% (95% CI: 4.1-98.7%). Sensitivity analyses confirmed main analysis results. Recent influenza vaccination is associated with an appreciable reduction in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity.

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