A majority of healthcare professionals in Bahrain have high confidence in vaccines and believe they are safe and protect against infectious diseases, a new study has revealed.
However, concerns about their long-term side effects persists, and training on vaccination has been found to be limited, with most participants saying they have not received any formal instructions.
The study, titled Vaccine Knowledge, Attitude and Hesitancy Among Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) in Bahrain: A Cross-Sectional Survey included the responses of more than 500 professionals.
Around three-quarters of medical professionals in the country believe the jabs are safe
It was authored by Safiya Al Musawi and Fatema Majeed from Salmaniya Medical Complex; Marya Radhi, Thrshith Kumar and Mohammed Khaleel from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Bahrain, and Eman Al Salman, Khalil Altaitoon and Zakeya Al Musawi from Primary Healthcare Centres.
It aimed to study the knowledge, attitude and hesitancy towards the recommended vaccinations among healthcare professionals in Bahrain. Seventy-five per cent of participants believed vaccines were safe while 21pc were unsure about it.
“Vaccination is the most cost-effective measure that plays a major role in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with various infectious diseases,” the study pointed out.
A nurse administering a vaccine to a resident
“Despite the monitoring of vaccine safety by the World Health Organisation, critics and hesitancy about vaccines exist in communities globally. Vaccine hesitancy has increased to an alarming level in the last few years at the public level and among healthcare professionals, especially after the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccine.”
A total of 552 healthcare professionals in the country participated in the survey, 105 of whom were male and the remaining female.
Most of them (273, comprising 49.5 per cent) were aged between 31 and 40, 174 were 20 to 30-years-old (31.5pc), 82 were between 41 and 50 (14.9pc), 20 were aged 51 to 60 (3.6pc), while the remaining three (0.5pc) were 61 to 70 years old.
In terms of nationalities, 516 participants (93.5pc) were Bahraini, while 36 were described as expatriates.
As for occupation, 200 were doctors (36.2pc), 252 were nurses (45.7pc), and the remaining 100 (18.1pc) were laboratory workers.
Around 300 of them (54.3pc) worked for Primary Healthcare Centres and the remaining 252 were employed at government hospitals.
When questioned about their attitudes towards vaccines, a vast majority of them – 414, about 75pc – said they were safe, while only 22 (4pc) believed they were unsafe. The remaining 116 (21pc) said they were not sure.
When it came to their biggest concerns, 267 participants (48.4pc) said they were worried about vaccines’ long-term side effects, 227 (41.1pc) were concerned about vaccine safety, 134 (24.3pc) cited vaccine efficacy as a worry and 91 (16.5pc) said they were worried about its short-term side effects.
The remaining 134 participants did not have any concerns.
A total of 439 respondents (79.5pc) supported mandatory occupational vaccine while 113 believed the jab should be optional.
As for the importance of vaccines, 472 believed the shots guard people against diseases, 365 said they protect vulnerable individuals, 413 said they prevent pandemics and epidemics, 405 said they promote public health, and 339 believed they prevent long-term complications of diseases.
Only 15 participants (2.7pc) did not think that vaccines were important.
Regarding participation in courses on vaccination for healthcare workers, only 152 (27.5pc) respondents said they received training.
The study recommended adoption of policies and strategies to combat vaccine hesitancy and to include more training for healthcare professionals in the country.
“Interventions are required to help hesitant HCPs adopt more proactive vaccination practices, and implementation of policies to check the vaccination status and training is needed urgently,” the study said.
“In the era of vaccine hesitancy, there is an urgent need to develop an approach to reduce and address apprehensions towards vaccinations.
“It is important to create policies that include strategies to improve confidence in vaccine uptake that are adapted based on the social, cultural, and economic context of the country or region.”
The authors stressed the need to conduct more studies to understand the underlying vaccine hesitancy in the region.
“Moreover, the implementation of policies to check and record the vaccination status of professionals and make sure that they have received the required training will play a major role in increasing the vaccine uptake and reducing hesitancy,” they added.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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