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Some hospital staff say they are resisting COVID-19 vaccination because it’s so new and not yet fully approved by the FDA. Vaccination of health care workers is important to protect these frontline workers and their families. They will continue to be at risk of coming into contact with the infection, even as the number of cases falls. More hospitals are starting to require the shots to boost vaccination rates after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gave its green light to mandates in May. Among the nation’s 50 largest hospitals, the percentage of unvaccinated health care workers appears to be even larger, about 1 in 3. Vaccination rates range from a high of 99% at Houston Methodist Hospital, which was the first in the nation to mandate the shots for its workers, to a low between 30% and 40% at some hospitals in Florida (Goodman & Miller, 2021).

Health care workers are a reliable source of information on vaccination to patients; therefore, their acceptance or otherwise of COVID-19 vaccines may influence the uptake of COVID-19 among the general population. People commonly rely on health care worker’s information and actions to guide their decision. COVID-19 vaccines hesitancy can be attributed to misinformation on the quality of vaccines and the spread of COVID-19, especially on social media. Misinformation and conspiracy theories have been identified as a barrier to the fight against COVID-19. The sex, category of health care workers, relative having been diagnosed with COVID-19, and trust in the government’s accuracy in the fight against COVID-19 predicted acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among health care workers. Medical doctors were more likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccines if available compared to nurses and midwives. This finding is consistent with other studies that found that nurses are less likely to accept COVID-19 vaccines than doctors. The results also showed that health care workers whose relatives have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 were less likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccines if available than health care workers whose relatives have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Health care workers who had trust in the accuracy of the measures taken by the government in the fight against COVID-19 were more likely to accept COVID-19 vaccines (Agyekum et al., 2021). 

Practical strategies are needed to encourage HCWs to get vaccinated. Educate HCWs by creating more webinars and seminars to explain what is known and what is not. Monitor social media, find what erroneous claims are out there, and refute them. Find the right spokespersons that HCWs respect and are most effective at addressing concerns. Emphasize the HCW’s ethical responsibility. Make it clear that workers are expected to get vaccinated. Some workers might cite religious reasons for refusing vaccination, but religious figures can explain why vaccination is a duty (Smith, 2021).

Reference

Agyekum, M. W., Afrifa-Anane, G. F., Kyei-Arthur, F., & Addo, B. (2021). Acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among health care workers in Ghana. Advances in Public Health, 2021, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9998176 

Goodman, B., & Miller, A. (2021, June 28). Huge number of hospital workers still unvaccinated. WebMD. Retrieved September 30, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210628/huge-number-of-hospital-workers. 

Smith, T. M. (2021, March 4). Dealing with covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among health care workers. American Medical Association. Retrieved September 30, 2021, from https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/dealing-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-among-health-care-workers.