1.COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among health care workers from a community-based clinic chain: A cross-sectional study
Patrick Reynard C. Santos ; Catherina R. Valencia ; Emille May Almeda ; Tirso Bernardo II
The Filipino Family Physician 2022;60(1):106-111
Background:
Since the implementation of the community quarantine by the Philippine government last March 17, 2020 the country has been living in constant fear of possibly contracting the virus. Even as vaccines have been developed and tested, not everyone is confident in having themselves vaccinated against COVID-19. This is true even for healthcare professionals who are at increased risk of exposure to the virus
Objective:
This study aimed to determine the acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccination among Health Care Workers from a primary care setting during the COVID-19 pandemic
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2021 with 101 healthcare workers from all active clinics of Healthway Family Clinics at the time of the study. The participants were given self-administered questionnaires containing 15 items regarding socio-demographic data as well as willingness to receive and perception of COVID-19 vaccination
Results:
Overall, 97% of the 101 total participants are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is made available to them, while 3%, displaying vaccine hesitancy, would like to wait before getting vaccinated. Most participants in the study were female (66.3%) and single (72.3%) with a mean age of 30.82 years. Majority of the participants were doctors (56.4%), followed by nurses (25.7%), clinic assistants (7.9%), pharmacists (7.9%) and radiology technicians (2.1%). There was no significant association between vaccination acceptance with sociodemographic variables and perceptions about the vaccine
Conclusion and Recommendation
Once the COVID-19 vaccine is available to them, majority of the healthcare workers in the study’s primary care community-based clinics will immediately avail of the vaccination and while the remaining displays vaccine hesitancy. This is encouraging because it is important for health workers to protect themselves from the risk of COVID-19 infection by getting immunized as well as be in the forefront of encouraging our patients to have themselves immunized as well. Future researchers may use this study and its recommendations to analyze possible trends and associations with regards to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake