Knowledge and Attitude Towards Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Among Health Professionals Working at Public Health Facilities in a Low Income Country

• Main Authors: Ahmed MH, Siraj SS, Klein J, Ali FY, Kanfe SG
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-08-01
• Series: Infection and Drug Resistance
• Subjects: covid-19; health professionals; attitude; second vaccine dose; knowledge; ethiopia.
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/knowledge-and-attitude-towards-second-covid-19-vaccine-dose-among-heal-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IDR

Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed,1 Shuayib Shemsu Siraj,2 Jorn Klein,3 Fedila Yassin Ali,4 Shuma Gosha Kanfe1 1Department of Health Informatics, College of Health Sciences, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia; 2Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia; 3University of South-Eastern Norway, Porsgrunn, Norway; 4Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Wolkite University, Wolkite, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Mohammedjud Hassen AhmedDepartment of Health Informatics, Mettu University, College of Health Sciences, Mettu, EthiopiaTel [phone]Email [e-mail]: Several vaccines have been approved in a lot of countries to combat coronavirus disease and distributed throughout the world. Health professional’s knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose were poorly implemented and understood in Ethiopia’s health facilities. The main purpose of conducting this study was to investigate health professionals’ knowledge and attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose at public hospitals in Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from January to March, 2021 to assess the knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine dose among health professionals working at public health facilities in Ethiopia. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify predictors that correlate with knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose with a P-value< 0.05 as a cut-off point for statistical significance at 95% confidence interval (CI).Results: Four hundred and nine study subjects participated, with a response rate of 96.7%. In this study, more than half of the respondents had high knowledge towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Similarly, 95.6% of respondents had a favorable attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=1.82, 95% CI=1.1– 2.2), age (AOR=2.01, 95% CI=1.76– 3.01), and profession (AOR=2.32, 95% CI=1.42– 3.01) were variables associated with knowledge towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=5.42, 95% CI=4.1– 6.7), age (AOR=12.4, 95% CI=10.54– 15.8), professionals (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32– 6.87), working experience (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32– 6.87), marital status (AOR=2.47, 95% CI=1.33– 5.95), risk degree (AOR=2.33, 95% CI=1.31– 4.11) and gender (AOR=3.42, 95% CI=2.91– 4.98) were determinant factors of attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose.Conclusion: Addressing problems related with risk degree, educational status, and socio-demographic factors will help to increase the overall knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses.Keywords: COVID-19, health professionals, attitude, second vaccine dose, knowledge, Ethiopia