The COVID-19 vaccine was initially offered to frontline health care workers (HCWs), due to high risk of contracting COVID-19 through occupational exposure to patients. Low HCW vaccine uptake can impact overall community level vaccine uptake. This study used the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory to understand factors related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake in HCWs.
We surveyed Pennsylvanian HCWs (excluding Philadelphia) from August 2022 – February 2023. Survey questions inquired about demographics, COVID-19 vaccination status, reasons for receiving/declining the COVID-19 vaccine, and sources of information about the vaccine.
Participants (n=3490) were 85% female, 89% White, and 93% (n=3255) reported receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. HCWs were categorized into adopter categories of the DOI theory: innovators (56%), early adopters (9%), early majority (11%), late majority (7%), and laggards (17%). The major reason that prompted participants to get the vaccine were to protect them against COVID-19 infection (78%), while the major reason for declining the vaccine was due to concern about possible side effects from the vaccine (78%).
We applied the DOI theory to characterize adopters and identify factors related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake in HCWs. As updated COVID-19 vaccines are approved for the US market, our findings may be used to improve vaccine education and communication among HCWs to support vaccine uptake.
Copyright © 2024 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
