Despite the fact that seasonal influenza vaccine (SIV) is advised for healthcare personnel in order to protect themselves and their patients, take-up is low, particularly among nurses. Researchers wanted to look into nurses’ self-vaccination habits, attitudes, and awareness of SIV in Southeastern France. The same standardised questionnaire was used for a cross-sectional study of community and hospital-based hospital nurses. Factors related with the following dependent variables were investigated using multi-model averaging approaches: self-reported SIV uptake and considering SIV a professional duty. The questionnaire was completed by 1539 nurses. In terms of nurses’ negative attitudes concerning individual vaccinations, SIV was the most commonly mentioned vaccine. 34 percent of nurses said they have been vaccinated at least once during the 2015–2016 or 2016–2017 seasons. The primary deterrents of SIV were a lack of assessed personal susceptibility to influenza, a fear of unpleasant effects, and a preference for homeopathy. Nurses had a variety of misunderstandings about the SIV, but 69 percent said its advantages outweighed the dangers. According to the multi-model averaging method, viewing SIV as a professional duty was the most important factor linked with SIV uptake among nurses. This sense of duty was found to be highly linked to confidence in various vaccination information sources.
Nurses had poor SIV uptake rates, as well as a variety of concerns and a lack of awareness about the vaccination. This is problematic given the impact that these variables can have on nurses’ and patients’ health, especially with the greater role that nurses may play in the future in relation to SIV.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2019.1587274
