Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Registered Nurses in China during 2017–2018: An Internet Panel Survey

Abstract

Influenza vaccination is recommended for nurses in China but is not mandatory or offered free of charge. The main objective of this study was to determine influenza vaccination coverage and the principal factors influencing influenza vaccination among nurses in China. During 22 March–1 April 2018, we conducted an opt-in internet panel survey among registered nurses in China. Respondents were recruited from an internet-based training platform for nurses. Among 22,888 nurses invited to participate, 4706 responded, and 4153 were valid respondents. Overall, 257 (6%) nurses reported receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine during the 2017/2018 season. Vaccination coverage was highest among nurses working in Beijing (10%, p < 0.001) and nurses working in primary care (12%, p = 0.023). The top three reasons for not being vaccinated were lack of time (28%), not knowing where and when to get vaccinated (14%), and lack of confidence in the vaccine’s effectiveness (12%). Overall, 41% of nurses reported experiencing at least one episode of influenza-like illness (ILI) during the 2017/2018 season; 87% of nurses kept working while sick, and 25% of nurses reported ever recommending influenza vaccination to patients. Compared with nurses who did not receive influenza vaccination in the 2017/2018 season, nurses who received influenza vaccination were more likely to recommend influenza vaccination to patients (67% vs. 22%, p < 0.001). Influenza vaccination coverage among nurses was low, and only a small proportion recommended influenza vaccine to patients. Our findings highlight the need for a multipronged strategy to increase influenza vaccination among nurses in China.

Factors Associated with Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Among Nursing Staff of Three Teaching Hospitals Affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran

“…Self-protection, patient protection, and family protection were the main reasons for influenza vaccine uptake in the vaccinated group; recommendations by the Ministry of Health were the reasons for vaccination only in 43.4% of the participants. Several studies, consistent with the present study, reported self-protection as the primary motivating factor of vaccination; however, there were inconsistencies with the present study results as patient protection was less motivating (22,28,33,34). According to a review study, 23 out of 40 studies found that self-protection and family protection were the most common reasons for influenza vaccine uptake (35).…”

“…According to a review study, 23 out of 40 studies found that self-protection and family protection were the most common reasons for influenza vaccine uptake (35). Some authors stated that to improve vaccination coverage in healthcare personnel, highlighting self-protection and family protection as a personal gain is more effective than patient protection as a moral consideration or organizational regulation (33,34).…”

The value of COVID-19 tests in Latin America

“… 5 See Kolenikov (2014) for a theoretical discussion of the iterative proportional fitting method and Stata application, and Lusk and Marette (2010) ; Ward et al (2011) ; Alemi et al (2018) ; Huang et al (2019) , and Yu et al (2019) for recent applications. …”

Risk factors associated with respiratory infectious disease-related presenteeism: a rapid review

“…Of the 54 included studies, 44 were cross-sectional studies (see Additional file 2). Study locations were North America (n = 32) [5,, Asia (n = 9) [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50], Europe (n = 7) [51][52][53][54][55][56][57], Australia (n = 4) [58][59][60][61], worldwide population (n = 1) [62], and an unspecified location (LinkedIn members) (n = 1) [63]. See Figure 2 for the distribution of included studies by country.…”