Sentiment towards vaccinations in Chinese healthcare workers: preliminary results from an international survey
 
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1
Section of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy
 
2
Section of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma
 
3
World Federation of Public Health Associations, Geneva, Switzerland
 
 
Publication date: 2023-04-27
 
 
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A2051
 
ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: Health care workers (HCWs) are a trusted source of vaccine information for patients and communities. Our Objective is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese HCWs' feelings about vaccination, focusing on COVID-19 and influenza. Methods: We designed a multilingual Knowledge-Attitudes-Practice web-survey with 4-point-Likert-items addressed to HCWs in 11 countries. Survey dissemination is ongoing through the mediation of national Public Health Associations. We present a preliminary descriptive analysis of a representative sample from China. Results: The completion rate is 72.7% (1,938/2,665). Respondents are mostly females (67.5%), with a median age of 42 (IQR:17), mainly employed as health professionals (30.7%), nurses (27.7%) or physicians (26.8%). Most respondents agree on the effectiveness (96.1%), safety (92.7%) and necessity (96.8%) of vaccinations in general. However, many think their side effects are minimized by pharmaceutical companies (91.2%) and health authorities (91.3%). Most respondents received 3+ doses of COVID-19 vaccines (90.9%) and agree that these vaccines are effective (92.3%) and dominate the disease in terms of benefit-risk ratio (87.7%). However, many have concerns about their rapid development (41.4%) and their administration in pregnancy (68.6%), with 28.9% favoring natural immunity over vaccine-induced immunity. Most HCWs agree with mandatory COVID-19 vaccine for their category (62.0% ), but only 48.1% agree with work restrictions for those noncomplying. The majority is ready to accept a further COVID-19 booster vaccination if recommended (73.5%) and agrees that the pandemic increased their confidence in vaccines safety (80.4%) and their attention to update their vaccination schedule (86.74%). Accordingly, only 19.0% received regular influenza vaccination before the pandemic, while 36.2% got vaccinated in the last season and 42.0% plan to do so in the next one. Conclusions: Despite some persisting doubts about COVID-19 vaccines, the sentiment towards vaccinations in Chinese HCWs is generally positive and has improved after the pandemic.
ISSN:2654-1459
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