Willingness of healthcare workers to accept voluntary stockpiled H5N1 vaccine in advance of pandemic activity

Abstract

Frontline healthcare workers will be at increased risk of infection during the next influenza pandemic. Proactive priming with pre-pandemic vaccine may protect staff and reduce nosocomial transmission. Despite campaigns to increase seasonal influenza vaccine coverage, uptake rates among healthcare workers are generally low, so it is uncertain whether they would participate in voluntary pre-pandemic vaccine programmes. We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of healthcare workers in a large UK teaching hospital during, and six months after, a period of intense media reporting of an H5N1 outbreak at a commercial UK poultry farm. A total of 520 questionnaires were returned, representing 20% of the frontline workforce. More respondents were willing to accept pre-pandemic vaccine during the period of heightened media attention than after (166/262, 63.4% versus 134/258, 51.9%; p=0.009). Following multivariate analysis, factors associated with willingness to accept pre-pandemic vaccine were: receipt of previous seasonal influenza vaccine (odds ratio 5.1, p<0.0001), belief that seasonal vaccine benefits themselves (OR 1.9, p=0.003), pandemic risk is high (OR 35.6, p=0.001) and that healthcare workers are threatened by a pandemic (OR 2.6, p<0.0001). Those who would not accept prepandemic vaccine (220 of 520 respondents, 42.7%) do not perceive pandemic influenza as a serious threat, and have concerns regarding vaccine safety. A majority of healthcare workers are amenable to accepting pre-pandemic vaccination if offered.Improving coverage of seasonal vaccine would increase pre-pandemic vaccine uptake if a proactive priming strategy was implemented.

Some factors affecting the decision on non-mandatory vaccination in an influenza pandemic: comparison of pandemic (H1N1) and seasonal influenza vaccination

“…Deciding in favour of pandemic vaccination increased among those who were vaccinated against seasonal influenza. This result is in line with the findings of other studies (2,16,25,26,33). It seems that when deciding about pandemic immunization, people relied on their experiences with seasonal influenza vaccination and simply behaved as they were accustomed to do in a similar context.…”

Positive attitudes of French general practitioners towards A/H1N1 influenza-pandemic vaccination: A missed opportunity to increase vaccination uptakes in the general public?

“…In our survey, 70.6% of GPs had received the seasonal influenza vaccine every year in the prior three years and their personal history of seasonal vaccination receipt was strongly related to their acceptability of the A/H1N1 pandemic vaccination with a significant trend towards an exposure-effect relationship. Previous studies conducted among healthcare workers showed a similar relationship between the receipt of influenza vaccine in the previous season and willingness to accept: 1) seasonal influenza vaccine in general practice [27,28], hospitals [29], and long term care facilities [30,31]; 2) pre-pandemic A/H5N1 influenza vaccines in hospitals [22,32]; and 3) A/H1N1 influenza pandemic vaccines in hospitals [22]. In addition, previous receipt of seasonal flu vaccines was associated with willingness to accept unapproved influenza-pandemic vaccination in June 2009 among the general public in the US [14].…”

Telephone monitoring of adverse events during an MF59®-adjuvanted H5N1 influenza vaccination campaign in Taiwan

“…[5][6][7] This study contributed to the limited understanding of adverse events following MF59 ® -adjuvanted H5N1 vaccination, particularly outside the clinical settings. Its findings were consistent with prelicensure observations; 2,8 the reported AEFIs were common, nonserious, and anticipated.…”