COVID-19 Vaccination: Status and Willingness to Be Vaccinated among Employees in Health and Welfare Care in Germany

Abstract

Healthcare workers are at particular risk due to their occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, they belong to the top priority group for vaccination. However, earlier studies show that nursing staff in particular are hesitant to be inoculated. This study presents the current picture with regard to vaccination status, willingness, vaccine preference, and reasons for or against a COVID-19 vaccination among health and welfare workers. An online survey was conducted between 4 March and 10 April 2021 among professional associations and providers of health and social services. Data sets of n = 3401 participants were analyzed. Of these, 62% stated that they had already been vaccinated at least once. A further 22% wanted to be vaccinated, while 6.6% were still hesitant and 9% refused to be vaccinated. Preference was given to predominantly mRNA-based vaccines. Altogether, there was a high vaccination rate and a great willingness to be vaccinated (>80%) across all professional groups and fields of work. Among nursing staff, the total figure was 83.5%. The percentage was highest in geriatric care at 87.5%. Contrary to findings of earlier surveys, vaccination willingness has risen in all professional groups during the course of the vaccination campaign in Germany.

Attitudes, acceptance and hesitancy among the general population worldwide to receive the COVID-19 vaccines and their contributing factors: A systematic review

“…However, it should be noted that the first study had a significantly smaller sample size. Accordingly, a survey conducted in January 2021 reports that around 62% of German healthcare workers have already been vaccinated at least once, while additional 22% were planning to do so, which yielded a fairly low hesitancy rate among this surveyed population [115] .…”

Motivation for COVID-19 Vaccination in Priority Occupational Groups: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Most of them had chosen to be vaccinated to protect their patients, clients, family members (88%), themselves (87%) and the workplace (84%). They also wished to contribute to the further easing of restrictions (80%), enable social contact (75%), and to have more travel opportunities (70%) [ 17 ]. This means that, as in the present study and the cited recent study among employees of UHO [ 9 ], all of which analyzed the situation of already vaccinated individuals, motives that aimed to protect others were dominant.…”

The Role of Health Literacy among Outpatient Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In the meantime, various vaccines are available to protect against COVID-19, and outpatient caregivers were already among the prioritised groups in Germany [127,128]. Recently published study results by Kozak and Nienhaus (2021) indicate that there is already a high willingness to vaccinate among geriatric care nurses, yet there are some who are still hesitant about the vaccination [129]. Hence, it would be of research interest to examine the status quo of vaccinated outpatient caregivers (vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated) and their health literacy or pandemic-related worries during the COVID 19 pandemic.…”

“…Although health literacy has often been researched in the context of patients with chronic diseases (e.g., hypertension, asthma, cancer, or HIV/AIDS) [7][8][9]), it has rarely been examined among outpatient caregivers in scientific studies so far [10]. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, the occupational group of outpatient caregivers in Germany consisted of 421,550 employees, most of whom were trained as geriatric nurses (98,976) or geriatric care assistants (21,831) and as health and care nurses (78,129) or nursing assistants (14,822). In Germany, 80% (3.3 million) out of 4.1 million persons in need for care were cared for at home at that time.…”