Assesment of Physicians’ Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccine

Year 2022, , 642 - 647, 28.09.2022

Feyza Nehir Öznur Muz , Muhammed Fatih Önsüz , Selma Metintas , Didem Arslantas , Alaettin Ünsal , Didem Oktar , Ezgi Yücel , Mine Tepetaş

https://doi.org/10.33808/clinexphealthsci.1005495

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to physicians attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine.
Methods: Our research is a cross-sectional study, which was conducted between January 4th and February 26th, 2021. A Google Forms questionnaire was prepared according to the literature. The first part of the two-part questionnaire included the sociodemographic characteristics of the physicians and some variables thought to be related to COVID-19. In the second part, questions from the “Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccine Scale (ATCVS)” were included. Multiple linear regression analysis with variables that were significant in univariate analysis was used for further analysis.
Results: Three hundred fifteen (71.9%) of a total of 438 participants stated that they were assigned to units related to COVID-19 during the pandemic. With more than 10 years of work in the profession, physicians had a more positive attitude towards vaccination than those with 1 – 5 years’ experience. Most of the physicians reported that there were insufficient studies on these newly developed vaccines. Possible adverse effects, uncertainty about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, and beliefs that people are not at risk for severe disease were prominent.
Conclusions: Despite all the uncertainties about the efficacy, safety, and long-term adverse effects of newly developed COVID vaccines, it was determined that 79% of the physicians approached the vaccine positively. The most important reason for vaccine hesitation was the insufficient studies about COVID-19 vaccines.

Keywords

COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic, vaccine hesitancy

References

• Neumann-Böhme S, Varghese NE, Sabat I, Barros PP, Brouwer W, van Exel J, Stargardt T. Once we have it, will we use it? A European survey on willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Eur J Health Econ 2020;21(7):977–982.
• Wang W, Wu Q, Yang J, Dong K, Chen Xinghui, Bai X, Yu H. Global, regional, and national estimates of target population sizes for covid-19 vaccination: descriptive study. BMJ 2020;371.
• Koff WC, Schenkelberg T. The future of vaccine development. Vaccine 2020;38(28):4485–4486.
• Kennedy J, Leask J. Social media platforms have a moral duty to ban misinformation about vaccines: Two leading thinkers on vaccine hesitancy and misinformation debate this crucial question. Index Censorsh 2020;49(4):76–79.
• Puri N, Coomes EA, Haghbayan H, Gunaratne K. Social media and vaccine hesitancy: new updates for the era of COVID-19 and globalized infectious diseases. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2020;16(11): 2586–2593.
• Kose S, Mandiracioglu A, Sahin S, Kaynar T, Karbus O, Ozbel Y. Vaccine hesitancy of the COVID‐19 by health care personnel. Int J Clin Pract 2021;75(5).
• Meyer MN, Gjorgjieva T, Rosica D. Healthcare worker intentions to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and reasons for hesitancy: A survey of 16,158 health system employees on the eve of vaccine distribution. PsyArXiv.2020. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/ge6uh.
• Wang W, Wu Q, Yang J, Dong K, Chen X, Bai X, Yu H. Global, regional, and national estimates of target population sizes for covid-19 vaccination: descriptive study. BMJ 2020; 371:m4704.
• Mert O. Türkiye’de insanların COVID-19 aşısına bakışı. Dicle Tıp Dergisi 2021; 48: 583-594.(Turkish)
• Geniş B, Gürhan N, Koç M, Geniş Ç, Şirin B, Çirakoğlu OC, Coşar B. Development of perception and attitude scales related with COVID-19 pandemia. Pearson Journal of Social Sciences-Humanities 2020; 5: 306–328.
• Çiftci F, Şen E, Demir N, Çiftci O, Erol S, Kayacan O. Beliefs, attitudes, and activities of healthcare personnel about influenza and pneumococcal vaccines. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2018;14(1): 111–117.
• Hofmann F, Ferracin C, Marsh G, Dumas R. Influenza vaccination of healthcare workers: a literature review of attitudes and beliefs. Infection 2006; 34(3), 142-147.
• Huang P. First COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To Go To Health Workers, Say CDC Advisers. Shots-Health News from NPR 2020. Published [05 November 2020]. Accessed [06 April 2021]. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/05/931844298/firstcovid-19-vaccine-doses-to-go-to-health-workers-say-cdcadvisers
• Tirumalaraju D. Sinovac begins Phase III trial of Covid-19 vaccine in Turkey [Internet]. Clinical Trials Arena 2020. Published [23 September 2020]. Accessed [01 April 2021]. https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/sinovac-covidvaccine-turkey/.
• Dror AA, Eisenbach N, Taiber S, Morozov NG, Mizrachi M, Zigron A, Sela E. Vaccine hesitancy: the next challenge in the fight against COVID-19. Eur J Epidemiol 2020;35(8):775-9.
• Sallam M. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy worldwide: a concise systematic review of vaccine acceptance rates. Vaccines 2021; 9(2):160.
• British Broadcasting Corporation. Covid-19: Türkiye’de Temmuz ayından beri ilk kez günlük koronavirüs vaka sayısı açıklandı. Published [26 November 2020]. Accessed [20 April 2021]. https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-55082062
• Kuter BJ, Browne S, Momplaisir FM, Feemster KA, Shen AK, Green-McKenzie J, Offit PA. Perspectives on the receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine: A survey of employees in two large hospitals in Philadelphia. Vaccine 2021; 39(12), 1693-1700.
• Freeman D, Loe BS, Chadwick A, Vaccari C, Waite F, Rosebrock L, Lambe S. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the UK: the Oxford coronavirus explanations, attitudes, and narratives survey (Oceans) II. Psychol Med 2020; 1–15.
• Shaw J, Stewart T, Anderson KB, Hanley S, Thomas SJ, Salmon DA, Morley C. Assessment of US health care personnel (HCP) attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in a large university health care system. Clin Infect Dis. 2021; 73(10):1776-1783. doi:10.1093/cid/ciab054.
• Kwok KO, Li KK, Wei WI, Tang A, Wong SYS, Lee SS. Influenza vaccine uptake, COVID-19 vaccination intention and vaccine hesitancy among nurses: A survey. nt J Nurs Stud 2021;114:103854.
• Gargano LM, Herbert NL, Painter JE, Sales JM, Morfaw C, Rask K, Hughes JM. Impact of a physician recommendation and parental immunization attitudes on receipt or intention to receive adolescent vaccines. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2013; 9(12), 2627-2633.
• Hofstetter AM, Robinson JD, Lepere K, Cunningham M, Etsekson N, Opel DJ. Clinician-parent discussions about influenza vaccination of children and their association with vaccine acceptance. Vaccine 2017; 35(20), 2709-2715.
• World Health Organization. Ten threats to global health in 2019. Accessed [22 April 2021]. https://www.who.int/newsroom/spotlight/ten-threats-to-globalhealth-in-2019
• Hunt C, Arthur A. Student nurses’ reasons behind the decision to receive or decline influenza vaccine: a cross-sectional survey. Vaccine 2012; 30(40), 5824-5829.
• Abu-Gharbieh E, Fahmy S, Rasool BA, Khan S. Influenza vaccination: healthcare workers attitude in three Middle East countries. Int J Med Sci 2010; 7(5), 319.
• Vergara RJD, Sarmiento PJD, Lagman JDN. Building public trust: a response to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy predicament. J Public Health (Oxf) 2021;43(2):e291–2. DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa282.
• Mallapaty S, Ledford H. COVID-vaccine results are on the way and scientists’ concerns are growing. Nature 2020; 16-17.
• Montagni I, Ouazzani-Touhami K, Mebarki A, Texier N, Schück S, Tzourio C. Acceptance of a Covid-19 vaccine is associated with ability to detect fake news and health literacy. J Public Health (Oxf) 2021;43:695–702.