Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine among health-care professionals

INTRODUCTION: The objective of the study is to understand COVID-19 vaccine perspectives among health-care workers (HCWs) in the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out between February and March 2021, 2 weeks after the Turkish government approved nationwide COVID-19 vaccinations for adults over 18-year-old age. Several online platforms were used to distribute the questionnaires. We followed the snowball sampling technique. An online questionnaire including sociodemographic information, vaccination attitudes, and perceived causes of COVID-19 pandemic was used.
RESULTS: A total of 128 HCWs with a mean age of 30.97±8.07 years were included. The average score of the research-assistant physicians obtained from the “Conspiracy” sub-dimension was significantly lower than that obtained by the nurses, mid-wives, medical secretaries-laborants, and technicians (all p<0.05). There is a weak negative correlation between considering that the vaccine is safe and the mean scores obtained from all sub-dimensions of the scale (all p<0.05). HCWs had concerns about difference between vaccines obtained significantly higher mean scores from the “Conspiracy” and “Environment” factors subscales than those who were not concerned (all p<0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study found that over half of HCWs were hesitant about the safety, effectiveness, and brand of vaccines even though they were vaccinated. The higher scores regarding belief and environmental factors indicated decreased the trust and confidence in vaccines among HCWs in the early COVID-19 pandemic.