Motivation to COVID-19 Vaccination and Reasons for Hesitancy in Employees of a Czech Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

High vaccination coverage among healthcare workers (HCWs) is crucial for managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to determine the demand for vaccination among all employees (n = 4553) of a tertiary care hospital after several weeks of the vaccine’s availability, and to analyze motives for acceptance and reasons for hesitancy through an anonymous online questionnaire. Upon the completion of data collection, the hospital’s vaccination coverage was at 69.8%. A total of 3550 completed questionnaires were obtained (2657 from vaccinated, 893 from unvaccinated employees). Significant predictors of vaccine acceptance were: age (odds ratio (OR) 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.02), sex (OR (females) 0.58, 95% CI 0.45–0.75), job type (OR (non-physician HCWs) 0.54, 95% CI 0.41–0.72; OR (non-HCWs) 0.51, 95% CI 0.37–0.71), fear of COVID-19 (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.34–1.46), history of COVID-19 (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.34–0.49) and of influenza vaccination (OR 2.74, 95% CI 2.12–3.57). The most frequent motive for acceptance was the effort to protect family members (84%), while concerns about vaccine safety and side effects (49.4%), followed by distrust in the vaccine’s efficacy (41.1%) were the top reasons for hesitancy. To increase vaccination coverage among HCWs, it is necessary to raise awareness of vaccine safety and efficacy.

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

“…A study by Raftopoulos et al, amongst 2238 Greek and Cypriot HCWs, revealed the same order of the strongest motives as in the HCWs from our study, i.e., family protection being the primary motive (98.7%), followed by patient (95.2%) and self-protection (94.2%) [ 13 ]. The same order of vaccination motives was also found in a recent study among already vaccinated employees of UHO [ 9 ].…”

“…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. With regards to the top reasons for COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in HCWs, the majority of studies found concerns about vaccine safety, efficacy, and potential side effects [ 18 ].…”

“…Similar to the aforementioned study among employees of UHO [ 9 ], Kozak et al performed a survey among 3401 HCWs and social workers, who were already largely vaccinated. Most of them had chosen to be vaccinated to protect their patients, clients, family members (88%), themselves (87%) and the workplace (84%).…”

“…The survey was conducted using the same questionnaire as in a recent study by the same authors [ 9 ]. To meet the aim of the study, closed-ended questions were added to the questionnaire regarding the respondents’ occupation, education, job position (managerial/non-managerial), contact with a large number of persons for most of their time at work (yes/no), and an open-ended question about the number of colleagues they come into close contact with in their profession.…”

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination among Healthcare and Non-Healthcare Workers of Hospitals and Outpatient Clinics in the Northern Region of Slovakia

“…A Microsoft Forms questionnaire was used, which was adopted from Stepanek et al with their consent [ 11 ]. Socio-demographic characteristics were collected among all respondents.…”