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. 2023 Feb 10;41(7):1290-1294.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.009. Epub 2023 Jan 9.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in care home staff: A survey of Liverpool care homes

John S P Tulloch  1 , Karen Lawrenson  2 , Adam L Gordon  3 , Sam Ghebrehewet  4 , Matthew Ashton  2 , Steve Peddie  5 , Paula Parvulescu  6
Affiliations

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in care home staff: A survey of Liverpool care homes

John S P Tulloch et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

Uptake of COVID-19 vaccine first doses in UK care homes has been higher among residents compared to staff. We aimed to identify causes of lower COVID-19 vaccine uptake amongst care home staff within Liverpool. An anonymised online survey was distributed to all care home managers, between the 21st and the 29th January 2021. 53 % of 87 care homes responded. The overall COVID-19 vaccination rate was 52.6 % (n = 1119). Reasons, identified by care home managers for staff being unvaccinated included: concerns about lack of vaccine research (37.0 %), staff being off-site during vaccination sessions (36.5 %), pregnancy and fertility concerns (5.6 %), and allergic reactions concerns (3.2 %). Care home managers wanted to tackle vaccine hesitancy through conversations with health professionals, and provision of evidence dispelling vaccine misinformation. Vaccine hesitancy and logistical issues were the main causes for reduced vaccine uptake among care home staff. The former could be addressed by targeted training, and public health communication campaigns to build confidence and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; Care homes; UK; Vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Vaccination uptake rate in Liverpool care home staff. Orange columns represent the self-reported vaccine uptake rates in each home. Blue columns represent potential vaccine uptake rate if only logistically issues are resolved. The solid black line represents the mean vaccine uptake rate. The dashed black line represents the predicted mean vaccine uptake rate if logistical issues are resolved. The number above each column equals the total number of staff employed at that home. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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