Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr;27(4):418-425.
doi: 10.1111/tmi.13742. Epub 2022 Mar 20.

COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among healthcare workers in Ethiopia: Do we practice what we preach?

Daniel Yilma  1   2 , Rezika Mohammed  3 , Seid Getahun Abdela  4 , Wendemagegn Enbiale  5   6 , Fasil Seifu  7 , Myrthe Pareyn  8 , Laurens Liesenborghs  8 , Johan van Griensven  8 , Saskia van Henten  8
Affiliations

COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among healthcare workers in Ethiopia: Do we practice what we preach?

Daniel Yilma et al. Trop Med Int Health. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: We assessed healthcare workers (HCWs) COVID-19 vaccine acceptability in Ethiopia.

Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional survey from February to April 2021 in HCWs from five teaching hospitals. HCWs were selected using convenient sampling, and data were collected through a survey link. Descriptive analysis and mixed-effect logistic regression were performed. A total of 1,314 HCWs participated in the study.

Results: We found that 25.5% (n = 332) of the HCWs would not accept a COVID-19 vaccine and 20.2% (n = 264) were not willing to recommend COVID-19 vaccination to others. Factors associated with vaccine non-acceptance were female sex (AOR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.3-2.5), the perception that vaccines are unsafe (AOR = 15.0; 95% CI: 8.7-25.9), not considering COVID-19 as health risk (AOR = 4.4; 95% CI: 2.0-9.5) and being unconcerned about contracting COVID-19 at work (AOR = 3.5; 95% CI: 1.5-8.4). Physicians were more willing to accept vaccination than other HCWs. Higher vaccine acceptability was also noted with increasing age. Participants most often indicated safety concerns as the determining factor on their decision to get vaccinated or not.

Conclusion: Overall, a quarter of HCWs would not accept a COVID-19 vaccine. Communications and training should address vaccine safety concerns. Additionally, emphasis should be given to showing current and future impact of COVID-19 on the personal, public and country level unless control efforts are improved. Interventions aimed to increase vaccine uptake should focus their efforts on younger and non-physician HCWs.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; healthcare workers; vaccine acceptability; vaccine hesitancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
COVID‐19 vaccine acceptibility among healthcare workers (HCWs) by site in Ethiopia. Figure shows the response to the question ‘If a COVID‐19 vaccine is proven safe and effective and is available, Will you get vaccinated?’. The different responses are shown in different shades, and results are shown stratified by site
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Healthcare workers' (HCWs) COVID‐19 vaccination recommendation by site in Ethiopia. Figure shows the response to the question ‘Would you recommend your patients to get vaccinated for COVID‐19?’. The different responses are shown in different shades, and results are shown stratified by site
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. African COVID‐19 Critical Care Outcomes Study (ACCCOS) Investigators . Patient care and clinical outcomes for patients with COVID‐19 infection admitted to African high‐care or intensive care units (ACCCOS): a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study. Lancet Lond Engl. 2021;397(10288):1885–94. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mohammed H, Oljira L, Roba KT, Yimer G, Fekadu A, Manyazewal T. Containment of COVID‐19 in Ethiopia and implications for tuberculosis care and research. Infect Dis Poverty. 2020;9(1):131. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Ten threats to global health in 2019 [Internet]. [cited 2020 Nov 28]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news‐room/spotlight/ten‐threats‐to‐global‐health‐in‐...
    1. MacDonald NE, Eskola J, Liang X, Chaudhuri M, Dube E, Gellin B, et al. Vaccine hesitancy: definition, scope and determinants. Vaccine. 2015;33(34):4161–4. - PubMed
    1. Soares P, Rocha JV, Moniz M, Gama A, Laires PA, Pedro AR, et al. Factors associated with COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccines. 2021;9(3):300. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances