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: Lili Huang, Weiwei Hu, Yanhong Jiang, Weiwen Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21645515.2024.2344290
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author Lili Huang
Weiwei Hu
Yanhong Jiang
Weiwen Hong
author_facet Lili Huang
Weiwei Hu
Yanhong Jiang
Weiwen Hong
author_sort Lili Huang
collection DOAJ
description 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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publishDate 2024-12-01
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series Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
spelling doaj-art-4da3cedff3484caf9bec09cd5fc892cf2025-08-20T02:16:46ZengTaylor & Francis GroupHuman Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics2164-55152164-554X2024-12-0120110.1080/21645515.2024.2344290Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staffLili Huang0Weiwei Hu1Yanhong Jiang2Weiwen Hong3Department of Emergency, Huangyan Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Taizhou, Zhejiang, ChinaDepartment of General Surgery, Taizhou First People’s Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, ChinaDepartment of Outpatient, Taizhou First People’s Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, ChinaDepartment of Anus & Intestine Surgery, Taizhou First People’s Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, ChinaCOVID-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.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21645515.2024.2344290COVID-19vaccine hesitancymedical staffsocial networksChina
spellingShingle Lili Huang
Weiwei Hu
Yanhong Jiang
Weiwen Hong
Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
COVID-19
vaccine hesitancy
medical staff
social networks
China
title Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
title_full Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
title_fullStr Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
title_full_unstemmed Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
title_short Association between friends’ hesitancy and personal COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese medical staff
title_sort association between friends hesitancy and personal covid 19 vaccine hesitancy among chinese medical staff
topic COVID-19
vaccine hesitancy
medical staff
social networks
China
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21645515.2024.2344290
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