School of Nursing, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
Department of Nursing, Midwifery Education and Research, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, WA, Australia.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 15;16(11):e0260049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260049. eCollection 2021.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is a key global public health strategy. Health professionals including midwives and doctors support and influence vaccination uptake by childbearing women. There is currently no evidence regarding the COVID-19 vaccination perceptions and intentions of those who receive or provide maternity care in Australia. The aim of this study was to address this gap in knowledge and explore the perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination from consumers and providers of maternity care in Australia.
A national cross-sectional online study conducted in early 2021 in Australia, a country that has had a very low number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Recruitment was undertaken through parenting and health professional social media sites and professional college distribution lists. A total of 853 completed responses, from women (n = 326), maternity care providers including doctors (n = 58), midwives (n = 391) and midwifery students (n = 78).
Personal intention to be vaccinated ranged from 48-89% with doctors most likely and women least likely. Doctors and midwifery students were significantly more likely to recommend the vaccine to pregnant women in their care than midwives (p<0.001). Fewer doctors (2%) felt that women should wait until breastfeeding had concluded before being vaccinated compared with 24% of midwives and 21% of midwifery students (p<0.001). More than half of the midwives (53%) had concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine for the women in their care compared with 35% of doctors and 46% of midwifery students. Despite national guidelines recommending vaccination of breastfeeding women, 54% of practitioners were unlikely to recommend vaccination for this group.
This is the first study to explore the perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination from the perspective of those who receive and provide maternity care in Australia. Findings have utility to support targeted public health messaging for these and other cohorts.
接种 COVID-19 疫苗是全球公共卫生的关键策略。包括助产士和医生在内的卫生专业人员支持并影响生育妇女的疫苗接种率。目前，澳大利亚提供或接受产妇护理的人员对 COVID-19 疫苗的看法和接种意愿方面尚无相关证据。本研究旨在填补这一知识空白，并探讨澳大利亚产妇护理消费者和提供者对 COVID-19 疫苗的看法和接种意愿。
本研究于 2021 年初在澳大利亚进行了一项全国性的横断面在线研究，澳大利亚的 COVID-19 病例和死亡人数非常低。通过育儿和卫生专业人士的社交媒体网站以及专业大学的分发名单进行招募。共有 853 名来自女性（n=326）、包括医生（n=58）、助产士（n=391）和助产士学生（n=78）的完成的回复。
个人接种疫苗的意愿范围从 48%到 89%，医生的可能性最大，而女性的可能性最小。医生和助产士学生比助产士更有可能向其护理的孕妇推荐该疫苗（p<0.001）。与 24%的助产士和 21%的助产士学生相比，只有 2%的医生认为女性应等到母乳喂养结束后再接种疫苗（p<0.001）。与医生（35%）和助产士学生（46%）相比，超过一半的助产士（53%）对其护理的妇女的 COVID-19 疫苗有顾虑。尽管国家指南建议对哺乳期妇女进行疫苗接种，但仍有 54%的从业者不太可能为该群体推荐接种疫苗。
这是第一项从澳大利亚接受和提供产妇护理的人员角度探讨 COVID-19 疫苗接种看法和接种意愿的研究。这些发现对为这些和其他人群提供有针对性的公共卫生宣传具有实用价值。
