SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: exploring healthcare workers’ awareness and perception of vaccine effectiveness: a national survey during the first week of WHO variant alert

Abstract

Background: As COVID-19 Omicron variant spread in several countries, healthcare workers' (HCWs) perceptions of vaccine effectiveness, booster and worries warrant reassessment. Methods: Online questionnaire among HCWs in Saudi Arabia (KSA) was collected between Dec 1-6, 2021, aiming to assess their Omicron variant's perceptions, worries, and booster-vaccine advocacy. Results: Among the 1285 HCWs participants in the study, two-thirds were females, 41% were nurses,46.4% were physicians, and 50% worked in tertiary care hospitals. Vaccination was perceived to be the most effective way to prevent the spread of Omicron variant and future variants by 66.9%. The respondents perceived social distancing (78%), universal masking (77.8%), and avoiding unnecessary travel (71.4%), slightly superior to vaccination to prevent COVID-19 variants spread. Of the respondents, 99.5% received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Regarding the booster dose, 96% either received it or planned to receive it once they are eligible. 57.7% of the respondents agreed that Omicron could cause a new COVID-19 wave worldwide, 45.9% agreed it may cause another COVID-19 wave in Saudi Arabia and 46.1% indicated the possibility of another lockdown. Overall, the HCWs worry level of the Omicron variant correlated significantly and strongly with their perception of the effectiveness of vaccination and preventive measures. Male HCWs had a significant agreement with mandatory vaccination of all eligible adult populations while HCWs who are unwilling to receive the vaccine had a strong disagreement with mandatory vaccination. Conclusions: The current study was conducted in the first week of Omicron variant discovery in KSA and only two-thirds of HCWs felt that vaccination is the best option to prevent the variant spread, indicating the need to further motivation campaigns for vaccination and booster doses education among HCWs. HCWs had a strong belief in non-pharmacologic interventions that should be encouraged and augmented. It is important to further study and enhance coping strategies for HCWs as we move through the third year of the pandemic with more potential variants, to protect HCWs from fatigue and burnout.

Is vaccine confidence an unexpected victim of the COVID-19 pandemic?

“…In the present study, the most noticeable change in attitude between 2019 and 2022 was that, while pre-pandemic the 46-60 years old group was considerably less vaccine-confident than all other age groups, this was not the case in the post-pandemic cohort. In fact, while none of the differences observed between age groups in the 2022 cohort were statistically significant (which is arguably an important finding in its own right, in agreement with a survey carried out at the onset of the Omicron wave), median VCS appeared to increase with age from 19 in participants under 30 years old to 22 in those over 60 years old [23] . This observation is compatible with previous findings of a survey carried out during the Delta wave, indicating that “younger populations had less willingness to receive vaccinations” [24] .…”

Knowledge, perception, and fear among the global population towards newly evoked variant Omicron (B.1.1.529)

“…Consistent with our study, participants from the study of Muhammad et al reported that face masking (75.7%) and social distancing (96.2%) are the essential precautionary measures to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 32 ]. Similar findings have been reported from Saudi Arabia [ 33 ] that face-masking (77.8%) and social distancing (78.0%) are even more critical than vaccination to prevent COVID-19 spread.…”

Healthcare workers’ worries and Monkeypox vaccine advocacy during the first month of the WHO Monkeypox alert: Cross-sectional survey in Saudi Arabia

“…Furthermore, we identified that HCWs in KSA who rely on official local statements from Saudi MOH and CDC were more likely to accept vaccination. Reliance on the latter sources have been previously proven to increase COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in numerous studies from KSA, this study further supports utilizing these sources for accurate and reliable information [15,17,37,38].…”