Factors associated with initial AstraZeneca vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and uptake among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study in Ghana’s Upper East region

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused over 171,657 confirmed cases and 1,462 deaths in Ghana, particularly among frontline health-workers involved in pandemic response. Prevention measures in Ghana include AstraZeneca ‘Covishield’ vaccination of health-workers, but research on factors affecting uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana were initially limited. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse knowledge, attitudes, and initial uptake of Covishield among nurses in the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo, Upper East Region. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 128 district hospital nurses using simple random sampling. We first calculated descriptive statistics and two composite variables summing either participant knowledge or attitude variables, with a threshold over 50% considered ‘sufficient’ or ‘positive’ respectively. We then analysed associations between demographic variables and Covishield knowledge, attitudes, or uptake using binomial logistic regression with a 95% confidence interval and p-value of <0.05 considered significant. All participants had heard of Covishield vaccine, with attitudes toward it generally positive (53%), and uptake high (72%). Reasons cited by the 28% unvaccinated included absence during vaccination, having already been infected with COVID-19, lack of trust in vaccine safety/efficacy, or pregnancy/breastfeeding. Education, residence, and family type were the only demographic factors significantly associated with nurses’ knowledge about, attitudes towards, or uptake of COVID-19 vaccination. While ‘positive’ attitude was significantly associated with higher odds of being vaccinated (AOR 4.75; 95%CI 1.59–14.1), ‘sufficient’ knowledge was not (AOR 1.33; 95%CI 0.53–3.32). This is the first study in Ghana’s resource-constrained Upper East region to examine health-worker perceptions of a novel vaccine and showed nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination were good overall. Further research is needed to determine how best to address hesitancy and understand findings that attitudes appeared more relevant than knowledge for uptake. Findings are relevant for local health authorities in improving vaccine availability and strengthening emergency risk communication and management of adverse events following immunisation.