COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among healthcare workers in Lusaka, Zambia; findings and implications for the future

Abstract

The uptake of COVID-19 vaccines is critical to address the severe consequences of the disease. Previous studies have suggested that many healthcare workers (HCWs) are hesitant to re-ceive the COVID-19 vaccine, further enhancing hesitancy rates within countries. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy levels are currently unknown among HCWs in Zambia, which is a concern given the burden of infectious diseases in the country. Consequently, this study assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among HCWs in Lusaka, Zambia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 240 HCWs between August and September 2022 using a semi-structured ques-tionnaire. Multivariable analysis was used to determine key factors associated with vaccine hesi-tancy among HCWs. Of the 240 HCWs who participated, 54.2% were females. 72.1% of HCWs would accept to be vaccinated while 27.9% were hesitant. 93.3% of HCWs had positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, with medical doctors having the highest mean attitude score (82%). Encourag-ingly, HCWs with positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines had reduced odds of being hesitant (AOR=0.02, 95% CI: 0.01-0.11, p

Rights

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11081350

Repository URI

https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/86432/