key: cord-0322257-amyq0j0p authors: Gopaul, C. D.; Ventour, D.; Thomas, D. title: COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake Among Healthcare Workers in Trinidad & Tobago. date: 2022-05-10 journal: nan DOI: 10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 sha: bb6b96723e4ec4e8d023149e7f97b528d97b1684 doc_id: 322257 cord_uid: amyq0j0p Background COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is important in ensuring the widespread vaccination of the population to achieve herd immunity. Establishing the acceptance of vaccines among healthcare workers, who play a vital role immunization program success, is important. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of social trust and demographic factors on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers. Methods A cross-sectional survey utilizing an electronic questionnaire inquiring about COVID-19 vaccine uptake, preferences, and concerns was distributed via email to 1,351 North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) healthcare workers of the following categories: medical practitioners, nursing personnel, veterinary surgeons, medical interns, dental interns, paramedics, and pharmacists. These professions were selected as they were granted power to administer COVID-19 vaccines during this period of public emergency by the President of Trinidad and Tobago and were therefore likely to be NCRHA healthcare workers directly involved in vaccine administration services. 584 participants returned a completed questionnaire. Bivariate analysis using Chi-square analysis of association was used to determine the association between the respondents characteristics and the acceptance of the vaccine and the association between vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers and trust. The association between the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccines and healthcare workers characteristics and trust was established using multinomial logistic regression. Results A total of 584 healthcare workers took part in the study and 1.4% showed unwillingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine. The study indicates that age, profession, and the trust in international organizations and other healthcare providers predict the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers. However, gender of the healthcare workers does not predict vaccine acceptance. Conclusions and Relevance Efforts towards enhanced vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers should take into consideration age, profession, and the trust in international organizations and other healthcare providers. Sensitization programs should be age-specific as well as occupation-based. 105 Program, with healthcare workers being among the first groups to receive the first doses of 106 the vaccine, along with persons aged 60 years and over and persons with non-communicable 107 diseases. By April 2021, subsequent phases (2 and 3) of the campaign offered frontline 108 essential workers and the eligible public the opportunity to be inoculated. As of October 31st, . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. 186 The determination of the significant outcomes was carried out at p< 0.05. 187 Multinomial logistic regression 188 The independent association between the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccines and 189 healthcare workers' characteristics and trust was established using multinomial logistic 190 regression. The analysis approach was appropriate because the dependent variable had three 191 categories. In this study, the category " No, I am not willing to take any brand of the vaccine" 192 was used as the reference category. The determination of the significant outcomes was 193 carried out at p< 0.05. The analysis was carried out using SPSS. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. 204 The in-depth description of the sociodemographic attributes is shown in Table 1 . 205 is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. Among the participants, 514 had taken the covid-19 vaccine (88.0%), 62 (10.6%) had 208 not taken the vaccine but were willing to take a brand of the vaccine while eight (1.4%) had 209 not taken the vaccine and were not willing to take any brand of the vaccine. Table 2 shows 210 that the outcome of the Chi-square analysis of association between the respondents' 211 characteristics and the acceptance of the vaccine. A statistically significant association 212 between the acceptance of vaccines and gender existed ( p = 0.004) with a high number of 213 females (87.5%) compared to males (12.5%) not having taken any vaccine and not willing to 214 take any brand. However, it should be noted that the reported association between gender and 215 acceptance of vaccines could be influenced by the disparity in the number of males included 216 in the study. The acceptance of the vaccines was also associated with the participant's age 217 (p= 0.002) with the unwillingness to take the vaccines being reported among those aged 25 -218 34 years (75.0%) and 35 -44 years (25.0%). Vaccine acceptance was also associated with the . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 doi: medRxiv preprint 219 current employment (p < 0.001), with the unwillingness to take the vaccines being reported 220 among registered nurses (62.5%) and enrolled nurses (37.5%). A statistically significant 221 association also existed between the monthly income and vaccine acceptance (p < 0.001) with 222 the unwillingness to take the vaccine being reported only among those who earned between 223 10,001 -15,000. Vaccine acceptance was also associated with the level of education (p < Table 2. 232 Table 3 also shows a statistically significant association . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 doi: medRxiv preprint 243 between the trust in government agencies and the acceptance of vaccines (p < 0.001), with 244 87.5% of those unwilling to accept the vaccines being those having no trust or little trust in 245 government agencies. It was also noted that the vaccine acceptance was also associated with 246 the trust in the international organizations such as WHO and CDC (p < 0.001), with 91.0% of 247 those having taken the vaccines being those having moderate trust or a lot of trust in the 248 international organizations. As shown in Table 3 , there was no statistically significant 249 association between vaccine acceptance and the trust in national newspapers, international 250 newspapers, national television broadcasts, national radio broadcasts, social media, and 251 family and friends. 252 is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 doi: medRxiv preprint 264 and 35 years and above. For the variable profession, the categories included nursing 265 profession and healthcare workers of other professions. Table 4 shows that the odds of 266 healthcare workers aged less than 35 years having taken the COVID-19 vaccine compared to 267 those unvaccinated and unwilling to take any brand of the vaccine is significantly lower 268 compared to the healthcare workers aged above 35 years (p = 0.02). Table 4 Table 4 also indicates that the odds of being unvaccinated but willing 279 to take any brand of the vaccine compared to those unvaccinated and unwilling to take any 280 brand of the vaccine were significantly lower among those who had no trust in doctor/other 281 healthcare professional compared to those with trust (p = 0.04). . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 doi: medRxiv preprint 283 332 The reported findings also support the observations made by Wang and colleagues 1 who 333 noted that individuals who were younger than 50 years were more willing to get vaccinated. 334 Gadoth and colleagues 10 also reported that older healthcare workers (50 years or older) were 335 significantly more likely to accept vaccines. Similar observations were also made by Kuter 336 and colleagues 2 .Various researchers have also shown that younger age predicts vaccine 337 hesitancy. 1, 7 338 The findings of the study also indicate that the healthcare profession is associated with 339 COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers. According to this study being a nurse is 340 significantly associated with vaccine uptake compared to other professions. The findings 341 corroborate the observations made by Shaw and colleagues 11 regarding the difference in the 342 acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers based on their hospital roles. 343 However, the findings also support the conclusions made by Gagneux-Brunon and 344 colleagues 4 showing that nurses and assistant nurses were less likely to accept COVID-19 345 vaccination. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, 387 C.G., upon reasonable request. . CC-BY 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 10, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.22274854 doi: medRxiv preprint Willingness to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine among healthcare workers in 391 public institutions of Zhejiang Province Perspectives on the receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine: A survey of 395 employees in two large hospitals in Philadelphia. Vaccine Willingness of Taiwan's healthcare workers and outpatients to vaccinate against 399 COVID-19 during a period without community outbreaks. Vaccines Intention to get vaccinations against COVID-19 in French healthcare 403 workers during the first pandemic wave: a cross-sectional survey 406 Acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in the Saudi Arabia. Frontiers in Medicine Determinants of intention to 410 get vaccinated against COVID-19 among healthcare personnel in hospitals in Greece. 411 Infection, Disease & Health Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago, 2020. Statement from the Honourable 437 Minister of Health at the Media Conference to Advise of the 438 First Confirmed (Imported) Case of COVID-19 in Trinidad and Tobago Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Vaccine Side Effects among 447 The epidemiological characteristics of 450 positive COVID-19 patients in Trinidad and Tobago Laboratory Predictors for COVID-19 ICU 453 Admissions in Trinidad and Tobago UPDATED] Docs, nurses to get covid19 vaccines from Wednesday. 460 statement: Guidelines for reporting observational studies