Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy remains problematic among healthcare workers. Social network influences may shape vaccine decision-making, but few studies have examined this in this critical workforce. We assessed the relationship between friends’ COVID-19 vaccination attitudes and personal hesitancy amo...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21645515.2024.2344290 |
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| Summary: | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy remains problematic among healthcare workers. Social network influences may shape vaccine decision-making, but few studies have examined this in this critical workforce. We assessed the relationship between friends’ COVID-19 vaccination attitudes and personal hesitancy among Chinese healthcare personnel. In December 2022–January 2023, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted at a tertiary hospital in China using WeChat. Of the 1832 healthcare personnel who were invited to answer the structured questionnaire, 613 (33.5%) samples had valid data for data analysis. Logistic regression examined the association between friends’ hesitancy and participants’ own hesitancy, adjusting for confounders. Of 613 healthcare workers included, 266 (43.4%) were hesitant. Those with hesitant friends had 6.34 times higher adjusted odds of hesitating themselves versus those without hesitant friends (95% CI 2.97–13.52). Strong associations persisted across subgroups. Chinese healthcare workers’ COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy was highly influenced by perceived friends’ attitudes. Fostering pro-vaccine social norms through trusted peer networks could help promote vaccine acceptance in this critical workforce. |
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| ISSN: | 2164-5515 2164-554X |