Adherence to Vaccination Policy among Public Health Professionals: Results of a National Survey in Italy

Abstract

Starting from 2013, the number of unvaccinated people alarmingly increased in Italy; therefore, in 2017 a new Vaccine National Plan was approved. Healthcare workers (HCWs), especially public health professionals (PHPs, i.e., workers in in the sector of hygiene and preventive medicine), have an important role in informing and promoting vaccinations. In this context, the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (GISIO-SItI) conducted a national survey to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices towards recommended vaccinations among PHPs. The survey was conducted during October 2019 with an anonymous questionnaire distributed to PHPs attending the 52° SItI National Congress. Overall, 57.1% of operators answered correctly to all seven recommended vaccinations, 12.8% reported to be vaccinated for all seven recommended vaccinations, while 30% were naturally immunized. A higher immunization coverage was reported for anti-hepatitis B (88.9%) and measles (86.1%), and 81.3% of the participants reported being offered the influenza vaccination during the 2018/2019 season. The majority of our sample indicated that hepatitis B (95%) and influenza (93.7%) were the recommended vaccines for HCWs, while less was known regarding varicella, pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus boosters every 10 years. PHPs who were vaccinated (or who intended to be vaccinated) were more likely to recommend vaccinations to their patients and provided a reassuring example to those hesitant patients. Finally, this is the first study that identified good algorithms (using the techniques of machine learning as Random Forest and Deep Learning) to predict the knowledge of PHPs regarding recommended vaccinations with possible applications in other national and international contexts.

Meningococcal Disease and Related Vaccinations: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among Healthcare Workers Who Provide Care to Patients with Underlying High-Risk Medical Conditions

“…In common with good knowledge, fewer years of practice were positively associated with a favorable attitude towards vaccinations, reassuring that positive attitudes are influenced by correct knowledge, whereas the finding that this positive attitude was significantly more frequent among HCWs working in pediatric/neonatal wards demonstrates that HCWs continue to have a misperception, to date, that vaccinations are mainly a prerogative of the pediatric age. As expected, and consistent with a previous study [ 28 ], those who had undergone meningococcal vaccinations had a more positive attitude towards promoting recommended vaccinations to hesitant patients, providing support to the opportunity to favor vaccinations in HCWs as an enabling factor to the recommendation of vaccinations to patients.…”

“…However, this result is not surprising since the curricula of the degrees of nursing and medicine are quite different in this area, and this highlights the need to improve pre and post-graduate nursing courses in regards to these topics. These findings are also aligned with previous studies that have underlined the opportunity to evaluate nursing education curricula to enhance the focus on prevention and vaccinations [ 14 , 23 , 28 ].…”

The Public Attitudes, Concerns and Behaviors towards Children Vaccination

“…Healthcare workers (HCWs), especially public health professionals have an important role in informing and promoting vaccinations [16]. They should recommend vaccinations to their patients and provided recommendations to hesitant patients.…”

Rotavirus Vaccination of Infants Delayed and Limited within the National Immunization Programme in the Netherlands: An Opportunity Lost

“…Additionally, in addition to achieving control of RVGE, it is important to involve healthcare workers, especially workers in the hygiene sector and preventive medicine (public health professions), in the implementation process, given that healthcare workers have a serious role in vaccine promotion and informing the patient [ 33 ]. The investment in education of healthcare providers and the general public will increase the vaccination coverage and may achieve control of vaccine-preventable diseases.…”