TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of health care workers in Perth, Western Australia
T2 - A qualitative study
AU - Carlson, Samantha J.
AU - Tomkinson, Sian
AU - Blyth, Christopher C.
AU - Attwell, Katie
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was undertaken through the’Coronavax’ program of research.’Coronavax’ has received the following grants: Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government. Blyth, C., Attwell, K., Carlson, S., Harper, T., Rizzi, M., Tchilingirian, J., Effler, P., Hughes, C., Swift, V. Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Catalyst Research Grant ($99,946). https://infectiousdiseases.telethonkids.org.au/ Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government. Attwell, K., Blyth, C., Carlson, S., Harper, T., Rizzi, M., Tchilingirian, J., Effler, P., Hughes, C., Swift, V. Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, Communicable Disease Control Directorate ($99,818). https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/ Coronavax: Helping the hard-to-reach. Attwell, K., Carlson, S., Blyth, C., Harper, T., Rizzi, M., Tchilingirian, J., McKenzie L., Effler, P., Westphal, D., Hughes, C., Swift, V. Western Australian Future Health Research and Innovation Fund COVID-19 Focus Grant ($224,991). https://fhrifund.health.wa.gov.au/ The funders did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to the public for participating in our study and for our government partners for engaging with us. The authors thank Catherine Hughes for her support and guidance on Coronavax, as well as Sean McDonell and Breanna Fernandes. The media and communications teams at Telethon Kids Institute and UWA helped immensely with our recruitment. We acknowledge the intellectual contribution of our team members Tauel Harper and Jordan Tchilingirian.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Carlson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Introduction Health care workers (HCWs) faced an increased risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout commenced in February 2021 to priority groups, including HCWs. Given their increased risk, as well as influence on patients’ vaccine uptake, it was important that HCWs had a positive COVID-19 vaccination experience, as well as trusting the vaccine safety and efficacy data. Methods Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 19 public- and privately-practicing HCWs in Western Australia between February-July 2021. Data were deductively analysed using NVivo 12 and guided by the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour model. Results 15/19 participants had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Participants were highly motivated, mostly to protect themselves and to get back to “normal”, but also to protect patients. Many had a heightened awareness of COVID-19 severity due hearing from colleagues working in settings more impacted than Western Australia. Participants trusted the COVID-19 vaccine development and approval process; their histories of having to accept vaccines for work helped them to see COVID-19 vaccination as no different. Many recalled initially being unsure of how and when they’d be able to access the vaccine. Once they had this knowledge, half had difficulties with the booking process, and some were unable to access a clinic at a convenient location or time. Participants learnt about COVID-19 vaccination through government resources, health organisations, and their workplace, but few had seen any government campaigns for the wider public. Finally, most had discussed COVID-19 vaccination with their social network. Conclusion HCWs in Western Australia demonstrated good knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination, with many reasons to vaccinate themselves and support the vaccination of others. Addressing the barriers identified in this study will be important for planning to vaccinate health workforces during future pandemics.
AB - Introduction Health care workers (HCWs) faced an increased risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout commenced in February 2021 to priority groups, including HCWs. Given their increased risk, as well as influence on patients’ vaccine uptake, it was important that HCWs had a positive COVID-19 vaccination experience, as well as trusting the vaccine safety and efficacy data. Methods Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 19 public- and privately-practicing HCWs in Western Australia between February-July 2021. Data were deductively analysed using NVivo 12 and guided by the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour model. Results 15/19 participants had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Participants were highly motivated, mostly to protect themselves and to get back to “normal”, but also to protect patients. Many had a heightened awareness of COVID-19 severity due hearing from colleagues working in settings more impacted than Western Australia. Participants trusted the COVID-19 vaccine development and approval process; their histories of having to accept vaccines for work helped them to see COVID-19 vaccination as no different. Many recalled initially being unsure of how and when they’d be able to access the vaccine. Once they had this knowledge, half had difficulties with the booking process, and some were unable to access a clinic at a convenient location or time. Participants learnt about COVID-19 vaccination through government resources, health organisations, and their workplace, but few had seen any government campaigns for the wider public. Finally, most had discussed COVID-19 vaccination with their social network. Conclusion HCWs in Western Australia demonstrated good knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination, with many reasons to vaccinate themselves and support the vaccination of others. Addressing the barriers identified in this study will be important for planning to vaccinate health workforces during future pandemics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145425144&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0279557
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0279557
M3 - Article
C2 - 36584018
AN - SCOPUS:85145425144
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 12 December
M1 - e0279557
ER -
