Health care workers are at risk of influenza through occupational exposure. Uptake of influenza vaccine is poor even in countries where it is provided free. We sought to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding seasonal influenza and barriers for vaccination among nurses in Colombo. A cross sectional survey was carried out from February to March 2020 on 97 randomly selected nurses. Level of knowledge was measured using a scoring system. Only a few (n=7; 7.2%) nurses had been immunized against influenza. Overall knowledge regarding influenza and vaccines was average in most nurses (n=53; 55%). The majority (n=62; 63.9%) believed the vaccine was safe and 79.4% (n=77) were willing to be vaccinated if vaccine is provided free. However, 15 of these 77 (19.5%) were reluctant to be vaccinated annually. Identified barriers for vaccination were the perception that the vaccine was not essential, doubt about its efficacy, fear of vaccines and side effects. Knowledge should be improved, and misconceptions and fears need to be addressed through health education and promotion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.