Healthcare providers (HCPs) have been advised to be vaccinated against seasonal influenza on a global scale. Despite this, for a variety of reasons, healthcare practitioners (HCPs) throughout the world and in other Middle Eastern nations continue to have a low rate of influenza vaccination. The United Arab Emirates has no statistics available. Researchers wanted to determine the percentage of HCPs who have been vaccinated, the most prevalent reason for getting or not receiving the vaccination, and the degree of HCP awareness of the influenza vaccine. Over a 5-month period, anonymous 18-item self-administered questionnaires were given among healthcare practitioners at Dubai Health Authority’s 11 primary healthcare facilities using a cross-sectional study design. Over 53% of the 431 people who filled out the surveys said they had been vaccinated. There was a significant variation in vaccination uptake between the different professional groups (P < .0001). HCPs said the most prevalent reason for taking the immunization was to protect themselves (94.8%). The most prevalent reason for not being vaccinated among the 46.6% who refused it was their assumption that they were not at high risk of contracting influenza (39.8% ). Despite having a solid understanding (63.3%), healthcare practitioners nonetheless have misgivings about the annual influenza vaccine.
Despite the HCPs’ favorable attitudes regarding vaccine uptake, knowledge, and practice, misinformation about the vaccine remained the primary cause for non-vaccination, according to our data. Overall, the findings point to the possibility of a future improvement in vaccination rates through educational and technical initiatives, as well as increased physician engagement. One suggestion is to implement mandatory vaccination policies, as voluntary vaccinations have yielded less-than-satisfactory results, and to integrate mandatory vaccination policies into the online staff file system to verify uptake, as well as to provide easily accessible vaccine centers during the season to facilitate tracking and verification of vaccination status and to encourage staff compliance.
Reference:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2018.1507667
