COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health professionals in a tertiary care center at the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

The nurse's role in a patient-centered approach for reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during pregnancy: An American Academy of Nursing consensus paper

The evidence shows that COVID-19 vaccines can reduce the risks of poor pregnancy outcomes. Yet, reluctance to vaccinate remains high in pregnant populations. In this paper, we take a precision health and patient-centered approach to vaccine hesitancy. We adopted the society-to-cells vaccine hesitancy framework to identify society, community, family, individual, and physiologic factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy. Nurses are particularly well-suited to impact the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Because of their proximity to the patient, nurses are positioned to provide individualized, timely health information, and clinical guidelines to assist patients with decision-making related to vaccinations. Recommendations are provided to bolster nurses' engagement in precision health and patient-centered models of care to mitigate COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy.

Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the disruption of physical classes for university students globally, as large gatherings fuelled the transmission of the virus. In the efforts to mitigate its transmission and return to normality, prevention measures, including vaccination, have been encouraged. Therefore, it is critical to understand the knowledge and practices of students regarding COVID-19. This study assessed the knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students at the University of Zambia.

Materials and methods

This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2021 to October 2021 among 478 healthcare students (pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing, biomedical, medicine, and radiography). We used a previously validated questionnaire to measure knowledge and practice. The predictors of knowledge and practices were assessed using logistic regression with robust estimation of standard errors. Statistical analysis was conducted using Stata/BE version 17.0.

Results

Of the 478 respondents, 243 (50.8%) were females. A larger proportion, 175 (36.6%) were in Pharmacy training, and 156 (32.6%) were in their fifth year of study. The overall mean knowledge score of the participants was 87.9 (SD = 16.1), being higher at 89.6 (SD = 14.3) among medical students and the lowest at 86.7 (SD = 17.1) among Pharmacy students, although this was statistically non-significant (p = 0.488). The overall mean practice score was 60.0 (SD = 24.7), being significantly higher at 63.5 (23.4) among nursing, physiotherapy and environmental students compared to other students (p = 0.048). In multivariable analysis, the participant training program was non-significantly associated with knowledge and practice toward COVID-19. However, increased age (AOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01-1.117) and residing in urban areas (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.07-3.01) than in rural areas were associated with higher odds of good practice toward COVID-19.

Conclusion

The healthcare students generally showed good knowledge levels and poor practices toward COVID-19. Further, there was no evidence of a difference in knowledge of COVID-19 among healthcare students. These findings suggest the need for implementation strategies to be centered on improving the practices of students toward COVID-19.

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine and associated factors among health care workers at public hospitals in Eastern Ethiopia using the health belief model

Introduction

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination among Health Care Workers is mandatory to lessen and curve the spread of transmission of COVID-19. Even though the Health Belief Model is one of the most widely used models for understanding vaccination behavior against COVID-19 disease, COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among Health Care Workers in Ethiopia was not adequately explored by using the Health Belief Model domains.

Purpose

This study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and associated factors among Health care workers in eastern, Ethiopia.

Methods

Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was used among 417 health care workers selected by a systematic random sampling method from June 1- 30/2021. The data were collected by face-to-face interviews using semi-structured questionnaires and analyzed using STATA version 14 statistical software. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval was carried out to identify factors associated with willingness to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and a statistical significance was declared at a P-value < 0.05.

Results

The willingness of health care workers to accept the COVID-19 vaccine was 35.6%. Age 30-39 (AOR = 4.16;95% CI: 2.51, 6.88), age ≥ 40 years (AOR = 3.29;95% CI: 1.47, 7.39), good attitude (AOR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.00, 3.55), perceived susceptibility (AOR = 1.93; 95% CI: 1.12, 3.32), and perceived severity (AOR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.03, 3.10) were factors significantly associated with Health Care Workers acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusion

The willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine among HCWs was low. Factors significantly associated with the willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine were age, good attitude, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity of the disease. The low willingness of Health Care Workers to accept the COVID-19 vaccine was alarming and it needs more emphasis from the government in collaboration with other stakeholders to provide reliable information to avert misconceptions and rumors about the vaccine to improve the vaccine status of Health Care Workers to protect the communities.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and its Reasons in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy becomes the major bottleneck to the global healthcare system in minimizing the spread of the virus. This study aimed at assessing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its reasons among residents of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between May 16 to 29, 2021 in purposively selected four districts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A structured questionnaire was developed and then designed on Google Forms platforms to collect data from study participants after obtaining a verbal consent form. A total of 422 study participants were included in the survey. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel and then exported to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 for analysis.

Results

Face masks and alcohol hand rub/ sanitizer are used by 50. 7 and 24.9% of respondents when required. COVID-19 was thought to have been generated by humans by a substantial percentage of study participants (38.2%). About half (50.7%) and 24.9% of respondents use face masks and alcohol hand rub/sanitizer always when it is required, respectively. A large number of study participants (38.2%) believed that origin of COVID-19 is man-made. Overall, 242 (57.4%) of study participants reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Fear of vaccine side effects (49.6%) was the most common reason for hesitancy. Doubt about its effectiveness (33.9%), not having enough information about the COVID-19 vaccine, preferring another way of protection, and unreliable of the vaccine (due to its short development period) were also the most frequently mentioned reasons for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusions

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rate was high in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the study period. Fear of side effects, doubts about its effectiveness, and not having enough information about the COVID-19 vaccine were major reasons for hesitancy. Continuous awareness creation to the community on the importance of vaccination is warranted by health professionals and healthcare cadres.