Arshad Muhammad Subhan, Masood Imran, Imran Imran, Saeed Hamid, Ahmad Imran, Ishaq Iqra, Yaseen Hafsa, Akbar Muqarrab, Chaudhry Muhammad Omer, Rasool Muhammad Fawad
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan.
Department of Pharmacy, Southern Punjab Institute of Health Sciences, Multan 60000, Pakistan.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Oct 17;10(10):1736. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10101736.
Background: The waning vaccine immunity and emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 led health authorities across the globe to administer booster doses (BDs) of the COVID-19 vaccine. Hence, the current study aimed to assess the COVID-19 vaccine booster hesitancy (VBH) amongst Pakistani healthcare professionals (HCPs). Methods: A nationwide survey-based study was carried out from April 2022 to May 2022. The online self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect data regarding demographics (age, gender, marital status, profession, residential area, and province), COVID-19 infection history (infection history, onset, and clinical severity of disease), previous COVID-19 vaccination (type of vaccination and the number of doses), attitudes towards BDs (acceptance, rejection, and hesitancy), and psychological drivers of VBH (perceived effectiveness, vaccine safety, risk/benefit ratio, and vaccine type preference). We assessed the association between the dependent variable attitudes of study participants, regarding BDs and independent variables (demographics, COVID-19 infection history, previous COVID-19 vaccination, and psychological drivers of VBH), by using the Chi-square test/Fisher exact test. Results: Among the 1164 study participants, 51.4% were male, and 80.4% were medical professionals. The half of study participants (52.1%) agreed to take the COVID-19 vaccine BD or had already taken it, while the rest of them refused (34.7%) or hesitated (24.2%) to take it. These attitudes of the participants were significantly associated (p < 0.001) with psychological divers about the COVID-19 vaccine BD. Conclusion: This study revealed that Pakistani HCPs hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine BD had concerns about the safety, efficacy, and risk/benefits ratio of the vaccine’s BD. To eliminate the hesitancy, regarding BD in HCPs, certain educational strategies should be implemented by health authorities to address the concerns of HCPs.
SARS-CoV-2疫苗免疫力的减弱以及新变种的出现，促使全球卫生当局接种新冠疫苗加强针。因此，本研究旨在评估巴基斯坦医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）对新冠疫苗加强针的犹豫程度（VBH）。方法：2022年4月至2022年5月进行了一项基于全国调查的研究。使用在线自填问卷收集有关人口统计学（年龄、性别、婚姻状况、职业、居住地区和省份）、新冠病毒感染史（感染史、发病情况和疾病临床严重程度）、既往新冠疫苗接种情况（疫苗类型和接种剂量）、对加强针的态度（接受、拒绝和犹豫）以及VBH的心理驱动因素（感知有效性、疫苗安全性、风险/收益比和疫苗类型偏好）的数据。我们通过卡方检验/费舍尔精确检验评估了研究参与者对加强针的态度这一因变量与自变量（人口统计学、新冠病毒感染史、既往新冠疫苗接种情况和VBH的心理驱动因素）之间的关联。结果：在1164名研究参与者中，51.4%为男性，80.4%为医学专业人员。一半的研究参与者（52.1%）同意接种新冠疫苗加强针或已经接种，而其余参与者拒绝（34.7%）或犹豫（24.2%）接种。参与者的这些态度与对新冠疫苗加强针的心理因素显著相关（p < 0.001）。结论：本研究表明，对接种新冠疫苗加强针犹豫不决的巴基斯坦HCPs对加强针的安全性、有效性和风险/收益比存在担忧。为消除HCPs对加强针的犹豫，卫生当局应实施某些教育策略以解决HCPs的担忧。
