COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Its Risk Factors in Iranian Health Workers 2021

BACKGROUND: Ensuring vaccine acceptance in societies is a growing challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. This study aimed to identify factors associated with vaccine acceptance rates. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted as a national web-based survey from February 9(th)-13(th), 2021, just before the release of the COVID-19 vaccine in Shiraz, Iran. Independent variables included age, gender, occupation, history of COVID-19 infection, underlying diseases, and source of information. The willingness to be vaccinated was the dependent variable. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between different variables and the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The significance level was set at less than 0.05. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21. RESULTS: Of 2,699 healthcare respondents, 70.3% indicated a willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, of whom 49.2% preferred to receive a foreign vaccine and 24.68% desired to receive an Iranian vaccine. The women were more willing to receive the vaccine (67.6%) than the men (78.2%). Based on the results of logistic regression, gender (P<0.001) and job (P=0.005) were the most important associating factors to the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. CONCLUSION: Although the majority of participants were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, 29.6% were not yet ready. Women’s healthcare providers were more hesitant to recommend the vaccine. As a result, the findings of this study can help policymakers and decision-makers in the field of health, treatment, and prevention of COVID-19 in raising the level of vaccination awareness among healthcare workers.