COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

Khalid Alhasan^{1

2}, Fadi Aljamaan³, Mohamad-Hani Temsah^{1

2

4}, Fatimah Alshahrani⁵, Rolan Bassrawi², Ali Alhaboob^{1

2}, Rasha Assiri⁶, Shuliweeh Alenezi⁷, Ali Alaraj^{8

9}, Reham I Alhomoudi², Mohammed A Batais¹⁰, Lama Al-Eyadhy¹, Rabih Halwani^{11

12}, Naif AbdulMajeed^{2

13}, Ahmed Al-Jedai^{14

15}, Abdulrahman Senjab¹⁵, Ziad A Memish^{16

17}, Sarah Al-Subaie^{1

2}, Mazin Barry⁵, Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq^{18

19

20}

Affiliations

¹ Pediatric Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Pediatric Department, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia.
³ Critical Care Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Prince Abdullah Ben Khaled Celiac Disease Research Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah Bent Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Doctor Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Riyadh 11643, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Sharjah Institute of Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
¹² Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
¹³ Pediatric Nephrology Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh 12233, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ Deputyship of Therapeutic Affairs, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Colleges of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁶ King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health & Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
¹⁸ Specialty Internal Medicine and Quality Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁹ Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
²⁰ Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

PMID: 34828612
PMCID: PMC8621199
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9111566

COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

Khalid Alhasan et al. Healthcare (Basel). 2021.

. 2021 Nov 17;9(11):1566.

doi: 10.3390/healthcare9111566.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Pediatric Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Pediatric Department, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia.
³ Critical Care Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Prince Abdullah Ben Khaled Celiac Disease Research Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah Bent Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Doctor Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Riyadh 11643, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Sharjah Institute of Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
¹² Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
¹³ Pediatric Nephrology Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh 12233, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ Deputyship of Therapeutic Affairs, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Colleges of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁶ King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health & Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
¹⁸ Specialty Internal Medicine and Quality Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁹ Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
²⁰ Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

PMID: 34828612
PMCID: PMC8621199
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9111566

Abstract

Background: As the COVID-19 Delta variant has spread across the globe, healthcare workers' (HCWs) knowledge, worries, and vaccine booster acceptance should be assessed. Methods: Online questionnaires aimed at HCWs in Saudi Arabia were distributed between 9 and 12 August 2021, aiming to evaluate HCWs' perceptions and worries about the Delta variant as well as their feelings about receiving a booster-vaccine. Results: A total of 1279 HCWs participated, with 51.1% being physicians and 41.7% nurses. 92.5% were aware of the emergence of the Delta variant. Still, only 28.7% were found to have sufficient knowledge of the variant, and their level of worry about it was higher than their level of worry about the Alpha variant (2.32/5 versus 1.79/5). The main information sources cited by the participants were social media (50.5%), while 30.5% used scientific journals. Overall, 55.3% were willing to receive a vaccine booster, while one third would have preferred to receive a new mRNA vaccine specifically developed for the Delta variant. Factors associated with vaccine booster acceptance were receiving both vaccination doses (p = 0.008), believing that the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine is effective against variants (p < 0.001), and agreement that mixing/matching vaccines is effective against variants (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A high percentage of HCWs were aware of the Delta variant, but only a small fraction had decent quality of knowledge about it. The participants exhibited high worry levels and showed a modest acceptance of receiving a vaccine booster dose. These results should encourage public health officials to scale up educational efforts to disseminate reliable information about the different variants and provide recommendations about receiving a vaccine booster. Further research on methods to alleviate HCWs' worries about emerging variants is warranted.

Keywords: COVID-19 delta variant; COVID-19 vaccine booster; healthcare workers’ perceptions; travel worry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

**Figure A1**
Monthly distribution of the HCWS vaccination of COVID-19 according to the responses.

**Figure 1**
Health workers’ sources of Delta COVID-19 information.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

Affiliations

COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Research Materials