Acceptability of COVID-19 Vaccination among Health Care Workers in Ghana
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Hindawi
Abstract
Because health care workers are a reliable source of health information, their acceptance or rejection of COVID-19 vaccines can
influence the general population’s uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. In this study, we sought to determine the acceptability of
COVID-19 vaccines among health care workers in Ghana. Using a cross-sectional design, we collected data from 234 health care
workers through a self-administered online survey from 16 January to 15 February 2021. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate
analyses were performed using STATA version 15. ,The findings revealed that 39.3% (n = 92) of health care workers intended to
receive the COVID-19 vaccines. Factors such as sex (AOR = 0.451; CI 95% 0.240–0.845; p = 0.013), category of health care
workers (AOR = 2.851; 95 CI%: 1.097–7.405; p =0.031), relative being diagnosed with COVID-19 (AOR = 0.369; CI 95%
0.145–0.941; p =0.037), and trust in the accuracy of the measures taken by the government in the fight against COVID-19
(AOR = 2.768; CI 95%: 1.365–5.616; p = 0.005) proved to be significant predictors of the acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Concerns about the safety of vaccines (n =93, 65.5%) and the adverse side effects of the vaccines (n = 23, 14.8%) were identified as
the main reasons why health care workers would decline uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana. ,e self-reported low intention
of health care workers in Ghana to accept COVID-19 vaccines necessitates an urgent call from the Government of Ghana and
other stakeholders to address health care workers’ concerns about the safety and adverse side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, as this
would increase vaccine uptake. Interventions must also take into consideration sex and the category of health care workers to
achieve the desired results.
Description
Research Article