Estimating vaccine confidence levels among healthcare staff and students of a tertiary institution in South Africa

ABSTRACTIntroductionIn South Africa, healthcare workers were the first group scheduled to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it became available. Therefore, estimating their vaccine confidence levels and gauging their intention to vaccinate ahead of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out was imperative.MethodsAn online survey was conducted among current staff and students of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Stellenbosch University in South Africa using a succinct questionnaire. Sentiments about vaccines were estimated using five validated statements. The intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine was also investigated.ResultsThe response rate was 21.8%, giving a sample size of 1015. Females were 70.0% in the source population and 74.7% in the study sample.The proportion of participants who agreed that vaccines are important for children and for self was 97.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 96.1% to 98.3%) and 95.4% (95% CI 93.9 to 96.6) respectively. In addition, 95.4% (95% CI 93.8 to 96.6) agreed that vaccines are safe, 97.4% (95% CI 96.15 to 98.28) that vaccines are effective, and 96.1% (95% CI 94.6 to 97.2) that vaccines are compatible with their religious beliefs. The proportion of participants who were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine was 89.5% (95% CI 87.2 to 91.4).Log binomial regression revealed statistically significant positive associations between the intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and the belief that vaccines are safe (relative risk [RR] =32.2, CI 4.67 to 221.89); effective (RR=21.4, CI 3.16 to 145.82); important for children (RR=3.5, CI 1.78 to 6.99); important for self (RR=18.5, CI 4.78 to 71.12) or compatible with their religious beliefs (RR=2.2, CI 1.46 to 3.78).ConclusionVaccine confidence levels of the study respondents were highly positive. Nevertheless, this could be further enhanced by targeted interventions.SUMMARY BOXWhat is already known?➢The fast-tracked development and roll out of COVID-19 vaccines has increased general concerns about vaccines➢Healthcare workers are critical to the success of any vaccination endeavor.What are the new findings?➢Vaccine sentiments in the study population of healthcare staff and students of Stellenbosch University are highly positive.➢The study population has minimal variation in vaccine sentiments and vaccination intention across a range of demographic and social variables.➢Log binomial regression identified positive sentiments for all five vaccine sentiments investigated as likely predictors of intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available.What do the new findings imply?➢Similar interventions can be applied to enhance vaccine confidence among the healthcare staff and students of the study population as both groups share comparable characteristics across socio-demographic spheres.➢Strengthening confidence in vaccine importance, safety and effectiveness among healthcare workers and students holds the promise of a potential positive impact on COVID-19 vaccination uptake in the general population in the near and far future.