Vaccines (Nov 2023)

Factors Influencing the Healthcare Workers’ Willingness to Receive the COVID-19 Booster Dose in Tuscany (Italy)

  • Giovanni Guarducci,
  • Giovanna Mereu,
  • Davide Golinelli,
  • Giacomo Galletti,
  • Fabrizio Gemmi,
  • Alessandra Cartocci,
  • Nora Holczer,
  • Luca Bacci,
  • Alessandro Sergi,
  • Gabriele Messina,
  • Valerio Mari,
  • Nicola Nante

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11121751
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 12
p. 1751

Abstract

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Background: The World Health Organization has defined vaccine hesitancy as behavior influenced by several factors, including trust in the vaccine itself or its provider or the perceived need for vaccination. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among the employees and healthcare professionals of the Central Tuscany Local Health Authority (CT-LHA) in Italy. Methods: From July to October 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted. An online questionnaire was administered to 7000 employees of the CT-LHA. The questionnaire analyzed the factors that influenced receiving the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The sample was stratified by gender, age, type of occupation (healthcare or non-healthcare workers), and seniority. Incomplete questionnaires were excluded. A chi-squared test was performed through STATA. The significance level was set at 95%. Results: Of the questionnaires administered, 1885 (26.9%) questionnaires were eligible for the study. In the previous vaccination campaign, the healthcare workers (HCWs) considered the vaccine used by CT-LHA as safe, in contrast to non-healthcare workers (N-HCWs), who considered it less secure (p p < 0.05). Conclusions: The factors studied appear to influence HCWs differently from N-HCWs. Both HCWs and N-HCWs would choose an upgraded mRNA vaccine for the booster dose.

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