Knowledge, risk perception and attitudes toward vaccination among Austrian health care workers: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccination coverage of Austrian health care workers (HCWs), their knowledge concerning the current guideline on vaccination for HCWs and their attitudes toward vaccination. A cross-sectional survey was performed by distributing 200 questionnaires among the nursing staff of several medical wards and intensive care units of the Vienna General Hospital. 116 questionnaires were returned for analysis with 77.4% female and 22.6% male participants. While certain vaccines like hepatitis B, tetanus and polio had high vaccination rates of up to 94% and good knowledge concerning the vaccination status, other vaccines like measles (59.8%), mumps (60.7%), rubella (70.5%), influenza (42.1%) or pertussis (58.2%) showed much lower coverage. The main sources of information were nursing school (59.1%), secondary school (46.1%), parents (45.2%) and media in general (45.2%). Only 21.9% of HCWs claimed to know the current guideline on vaccination. Those who knew the guideline were significantly more likely to consider certain vaccines like measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio and varicella as recommended (p 0.04). The most important reasons for receiving vaccination were selfprotection (87.5%), prevention of epidemics (54.5%), protection of others (55.4%) and of patients (42.9%). Fear of side effects (67.2%), negative experiences with vaccines (22.4%), the additional doctor's appointment (20.7%) and considering vaccines as an invention by the pharmaceutical industry (19%) were hindering factors for vaccination of HCWs. Considering the essential role of HCWs in preventing diseases, this study noted a remarkable lack of information on vaccination in this profession.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of influenza vaccine immunization among primary healthcare providers in Dubai health authority, 2016-2017

“…9 In our study, the vaccine coverage among healthcare providers (53.4%) was similar to previously reported rates in other studies such as in Spain 50.7% coverage, 10 and in Austria 52% coverage. 11 43.9% of participants who have received the vaccine were having co-morbidities. Those with diabetes, bronchial asthma and obesity had increased acceptance of influenza vaccine (< 0.001), which falls in lines with their respective disease management strategies.…”

Predictors for and coverage of influenza vaccination among HIV‐positive patients: a cross‐sectional survey

“…A recent health survey showed that only 8.5% of Austrians claimed to be vaccinated against influenza in the year 2014 and about two-thirds of Austrians have never received an influenza vaccination [15]. Even among health care workers, an insufficient vaccination rate of 42% was recently reported [16]. Considering that immunosuppressed patients have an even higher risk for hospitalization and severe complications resulting from influenza infection, which are associated with increased mortality [2], it appears essential to gather more information on vaccination rates among such populations.…”

“…Multicentre cohort studies in CI, confidence interval. 20 (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) Negative experience with flu shot in the previous year 41 10 (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) Generally negative experiences with vaccinations 28 7 (5-10) the USA showed vaccination rates between 28 and 43% [18,19] among HIV-infected patients or even 57% [20] in a female HIV-positive cohort. In Europe, only limited data are available concerning the influenza vaccination status of persons living with HIV.…”

Les vaccins dans la prévention des infections associées aux soins

“…De plus, à l'instar de la population générale [103], l'hésitation vaccinale affecte aussi les soignants [104,105]. La crainte des effets secondaires, une expérience négative avec un vaccin, considérer que les vaccins sont une invention de l'industrie pharmaceutique, la nécessité de consulter un médecin et l'absence de perception d'un risque pour soi sont régulièrement retrouvés chez les soignants comme des barrières à la vaccination [106,107]. Plusieurs vaccins sont déjà disponibles pour les soignants afin de protéger les patients et d'autres sont l'objet d'un besoin urgent et/ou d'investigations.…”

“…Une décroissance rapide de l'immunité est observée après la vaccination par le vaccin acellulaire [118], les vaccins cellulaires permettant une immunité à plus long terme [119]. La couverture vaccinale contre la coqueluche est faible à 58,2 % dans une cohorte autrichienne [106] et a été estimée à 72,7 % dans une cohorte d'étudiants en médecine français, probablement parce qu'il étaient plus jeunes [120].…”