COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Health Care Workers in the United States

• Main Authors: Rahul Shekhar, Abu Baker Sheikh, Shubhra Upadhyay, Mriganka Singh, Saket Kottewar, Hamza Mir, Eileen Barrett, Suman Pal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Vaccines
• Subjects: COVID-19; vaccine; healthcare workers; United States
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/2/119

Background: Acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine will play a major role in combating the pandemic. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are among the first group to receive vaccination, so it is important to consider their attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination to better address barriers to widespread vaccination acceptance. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study to assess the attitude of HCWs toward COVID-19 vaccination. Data were collected between 7 October and 9 November 2020. We received 4080 responses out of which 3479 were complete responses and were included in the final analysis. Results: 36% of respondents were willing to take the vaccine as soon as it became available while 56% were not sure or would wait to review more data. Only 8% of HCWs do not plan to get vaccine. Vaccine acceptance increased with increasing age, education, and income level. A smaller percentage of female (31%), Black (19%), Lantinx (30%), and rural (26%) HCWs were willing to take the vaccine as soon as it became available than the overall study population. Direct medical care providers had higher vaccine acceptance (49%). Safety (69%), effectiveness (69%), and speed of development/approval (74%) were noted as the most common concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination in our survey.