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. 2021 Mar 8;18(5):2703.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18052703.

Attitudes of Healthcare Personnel towards Vaccinations before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Caterina Ledda  1 , Claudio Costantino  2 , Mario Cuccia  3 , Helena C Maltezou  4 , Venerando Rapisarda  1
Affiliations

Attitudes of Healthcare Personnel towards Vaccinations before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Caterina Ledda et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Vaccines constitute highly effective tools for controlling and eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) and are assessed to avert between two to three million deaths per year globally. Healthcare personnel (HCP) constitute a priority group for several vaccinations. However, studies indicate significant rates of vaccine hesitancy among them and, therefore, of acceptance of vaccination recommendations. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a university hospital in Southern Italy to assess the knowledge and attitudes of HCP about VPDs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, estimate their intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and search for determinants that may influence their choice. A self-administered questionnaire was used. HCP improved their knowledge about VPDs and were more favorable to vaccinations in September-December 2020 compared to January-December 2019. Overall, 75% of respondents would get a COVID-19 vaccine. Our findings indicate a potential role of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Italian HCP's knowledge and attitudes towards vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; SARS-CoV-2; attitudes; healthcare personnel; knowledge; occupational risk; vaccination; vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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