key: cord-0056363-yphslhwf
authors: Kose, Sukran; Mandiracioglu, Aliye; Sahin, Seheray; Kaynar, Teoman; Karbus, Omer; Ozbel, Yusuf
title: Vaccine hesitancy of the COVID‐19 by health care personnel
date: 2020-12-19
journal: Int J Clin Pract
DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.13917
sha: a6f55e65981c01429f4fc51fe93e59c37c41b077
doc_id: 56363
cord_uid: yphslhwf

BACKGROUND: The determination of the acceptance of the COVID‐19 vaccine by the health personnel will also be a guide for the upcoming vaccination studies. The aim of this study is to determine the acceptance status of COVID‐19 vaccine amongst healthcare professionals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1138 healthcare workers participated in this cross‐sectional study between 17th and 20th of September, 2020. The questionnaire, which was delivered via social media, was filled out by the participants over "Google Forms." RESULTS: As a result of the questionnaire, 68.6% of the healthcare professionals stated that they could be vaccinated. Men, students, the younger age group, and those who had a previous flu shot were all willing to get the COVID‐19 vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to increase the knowledge of healthcare professionals about the new vaccine and to eliminate their doubts and concerns are important.

the forms completely were evaluated. The survey is consisting of 15 questions, was delivered via social media, and was filled out by the participants on "Google Forms." Before starting the survey, the consent of the persons was obtained in the system and it was applied anonymously. The survey's sociodemographic characteristics and desire, hesitation, and reasons for getting COVID-19 vaccine were questioned.

The data of the research were evaluated with the SPSS 22.0 programme. The relationship between the decision to be vaccinated and some characteristics of the healthcare personnel was evaluated with the chi-square test. For statistical significance, P < .05 was accepted. were obtained to conduct the study.

Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants are shown in Table 1 . Most of the participants are women, students in the young age group, and healthcare professionals living in the city. While most of the participants did not have pneumonia and flu vaccine, they declared that they had a tetanus vaccine. Although most of the healthcare professionals stated that there is still no protective vaccine for COVID-19, 68.6% of them stated that they could be vaccinated (Table 2) .

Factors associated with the willingness of healthcare professionals to get the COVID-19 vaccine are monitored in Table 3 . practice homeopathy and who are totally against vaccination have already reported that they are also against the COVID-19 vaccine.

Healthcare professionals have also found distrust of pharmaceutical companies because of the lack of information on the financial interests of the pharmaceutical companies and the side effects of vaccine. 3 In the present study, when the factors related to the desire to be vaccinated are examined; men, students, younger age groups, and those who have had the flu vaccine were willing to get the COVID-19

vaccine. In the study conducted in Malta, men and those who had a previous flu vaccine were found to be more willing. 7 Younger nurses in Hong Kong were also found willing to vaccinate. 6 The limitations of the study were; reaching and responding to participants through social media and in a short time, and being a cross-sectional study that cannot fully prove the causal relationship.

Moreover, the strengths of the study are that it is the first in our In conclusion, despite the uncertainty of vaccine features such as efficacy, side effects, and duration of protection, 68.6% of the respondents stated that they wanted to receive COVID-19 vaccine.

Considering that especially the reluctant elderly group is more risky in terms of illness, information programmes can be organised for older healthcare professionals.

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. 

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