Half Of Healthcare Workers Would Say No To Swine Flu Vaccine

Main Category: Swine Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS;  Immune System / Vaccines;  Public Health
Article Date: 26 Aug 2009 - 10:00 PDT

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Just over half of healthcare workers surveyed in Hong Kong say they would not be vaccinated against swine flu because of fears of side effects and doubts about efficacy, according to research published on bmj.com today.

However, the authors emphasise that vaccination is one of the most effective ways to reduce illness and death associated with pandemic flu and believe that the benefits far outweigh any potential risks.

The authors say the results of the research are surprising given SARS had such a huge impact in Hong Kong and that the study took place at the same time as the World Health Organisation (WHO) escalated its alert for swine flu to phase 5.

The results also echo a recent UK poll1 of almost 1,500 Nursing Times readers which revealed that 30% of nurses said they would not have the swine flu vaccine.

Nearly all countries with a pandemic flu plan aim to vaccinate healthcare workers as a priority group in order to protect the essential health infrastructure of their countries. However, this policy will only be successful if there is a high uptake of the vaccine, says the study.

Lead author, Professor Paul Chan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says given the results of this study, a campaign to encourage vaccination among healthcare workers should be introduced.

The researchers surveyed over 8500 doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals working at 31 hospital departments of internal medicine, paediatrics, and emergency medicine in Hong Kong.

Participants were first surveyed from January to March 2009 when the WHO influenza pandemic alert was at phase 3. They were surveyed again in May 2009 when the WHO raised its pandemic alert to phase 5 (this was the first time participants were specifically asked if they were willing to be vaccinated against swine flu). There was a response rate of 46.6% for the first survey and 48% for the second.

Just over 28% of respondents in the first survey said they would be willing to be vaccinated against avian flu (H5N1). Interestingly, say the authors, "no significant changes in the level of intention to accept pre-pandemic H5N1 vaccine were observed, despite the escalation to phase 5 because of the wide spread of H1N1 virus (swine flu)."

Nearly half (47.9%) of respondents said they would be willing to be vaccinated against swine flu (H1N1) when the WHO alert level was at phase 5.

The most common reasons for an intention to accept were "wish to be protected" and "following health authority's advice." The most common reason for refusal was "worry about side effects." Other reasons included "query on the efficacy of the vaccine" and "simply did not want the vaccine."

Those who said they would opt for swine flu vaccination tended to be younger, had received the seasonal flu vaccine in 2008-9 and feared they were more likely to get swine flu.

The authors conclude: "To our knowledge, this is the largest study conducted to assess the willingness of healthcare workers to accept pre-pandemic influenza vaccination, and it provides important information on barriers to vaccination. Campaigns to promote vaccination should consider addressing the knowledge gap of staff and the specific target groups for intervention."

In an accompanying editorial, Rachel Jordan from the University of Birmingham and Andrew Hayward from the UCL Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, highlight that vaccination for healthcare workers is important for their own protection, the protection of their patients and could help to keep the NHS functioning at full capacity during the swine flu pandemic.

They argue that education and promotional campaigns alone have not been enough to encourage healthcare workers to get vaccinated, "but the additional use of convenient mobile systems, monitoring and feedback systems, and the use of "opt-out" systems (where healthcare workers need to indicate their reasons for not accepting the vaccine) show promise."

1 Guardian article

Link to paper
Link to editorial

Source
British Medical Journal

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