Knowledge and attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose among health care professionals in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Vaccination has become the most effective way to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As there have been reports of a gradual decline in the protection it offers, many countries have decided to administer booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. In Nepal, booster doses have been introduced to frontline health workers as a priority group. Therefore, this study aims to assess the knowledge and attitude of health care professionals toward booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2021 to January 2022 among health care professionals working at public health facilities in Nepal. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify predictors that correlate with knowledge and attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose. P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 300 participants were included in the final analysis. Among the study participants, 68.0% and 78.6% had good knowledge and favorable attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose, respectively. Female health care workers and those who had received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine had significantly lower odds of having good knowledge of COVID-19 booster dose. Similarly, participants with lower educational levels and those who had received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccination had an unfavorable attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose. Conclusion: This study showed a satisfactory level of knowledge and attitude of health care professionals toward COVID-19 booster dose in Nepal. Health care professionals’ positive attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose vaccine is key to the patient and community safety. Personalized education and risk communication can aid in improving overall awareness and attitudes toward COVID-19 booster dose in such populations.

Knowledge Gaps and Determination of Attitude and Practice among Medical Students toward Hepatitis B Infection: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

“…Overall practices' level toward HBV infection among MSs is high (53.1%). More than two-thirds of the students (68.3%) received the HBV vaccine before entering clinical practice similar to results of other studies conducted in Senegal and Saudi Arabia [21,28], but Jordanian MS's vaccine administration is less than their fellow students in Nepal and Iran [30,32], while around forty percent of MSs were screened for HBV before clinical practice [11]. Only 42.3% of MSs consistently use gloves before contacting patients or performing medical procedures, which is lower than a study conducted in Vietnam [25].…”

“…However, surprisingly, we have noticed that 44.1% of MSs claimed that HBV infection can be transmitted by sharing food and utensils. This is an alarming finding, which can have an impact on the level of stigma with encountering people who are infected by HBV, which has been reported by a study in Saudi Arabia among MSs [28], and a similar study in Iraq showed that MSs had a negative attitude regarding sitting and shaking hands with people who were infected by HBV [29], which is in contrast to Nepal study among undergraduate MSs [30]. In addition, a previous study in Jordan found a significant level of stigma among nurses while delivering care to a patient infected by HBV [31].…”

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine booster dose among the people of Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

“…Most of the studies conducted on primer vaccination in Bangladesh reported that 60–80 % of people had positive attitudes to accept a COVID-19 vaccine [ [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] ]. Worldwide, numerous studies have investigated varied COVID-19 VBD acceptance across different sub-population groups, including 44.6 % university community in Jordan [ 26 ], 75.3 % university people in Italy [ 27 ], 58.28 % adult people in India [ 30 ], 78.66 % health professionals in Nepal [ 32 ], 87.8 % university community in Germany [ 45 ] , 74.5 % students and health professionals in Poland [ 46 ], 72.7 % university community in Belgium [ 47 ], 62 % adult in the USA [ 48 ], 87.6 % general people in Malaysia [ 53 ] , 93.7 % Chinese general people [ 54 ], 71 % adult poles in Poland [ 55 ], 76.8 % older citizen in China [ 56 ], and 71.1 % health care workers in Saudi Arabia [ 57 ], 77.76 % general people in Pakistan [ 58 ] and 73.8 % health personnel in Singapore [ 59 ] declared their willingness to boost 3rd dose vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are supportive to our findings.…”

“…Global disparities in COVID-19 VBD acceptance were well documented across the countries, particularly in under-developed countries, and peoples are still reluctant to administer COVID-19 VBD [ 25 , 26 ]. Although few researchers reported relatively low levels of COVID-19 VBD apprehension in developed [ [27] , [28] , [29] ] and developing countries [ [30] , [31] , [32] ], a significant variability in responding COVID-19 VBD was found across different societies within the country [ 33 ]. Worldwide, several multi-dimensional antecedents were associated with COVID-19 VBD receptivity including socio-economic (e.g., employment, education level, and income status), socio-demographic attributes (e.g., marital status, age, gender, and ethnicity), place of residency (e.g., urban, semi-urban/rural), vaccine-specific concerns (equal safety, efficacy, effectiveness and post-vaccination side effects) socio-psychological (e.g., anti-vaccination sentiment, perceived risk of contagion, self-efficacy, sense of control, and academic attainment), financial (e.g., income source, living status), environmental (e.g., information sufficiency, trust, communication), experiential (e.g., disease exposure, social influences, previous vaccination experiences, and a history of clinical studies) influenced VBD decision [ [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] ].…”