Knowledge and Attitude Towards Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Among Health Professionals Working at Public Health Facilities in a Low Income Country

Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed; Shuayib Shemsu Siraj; Jorn Klein; Fedila Yassin Ali; Shuma Gosha Kanfe

doi:10.2147/IDR.S327954

Knowledge and Attitude Towards Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Among Health Professionals Working at Public Health Facilities in a Low Income Country

Infect Drug Resist. 2021 Aug 12:14:3125-3134. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S327954. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed¹, Shuayib Shemsu Siraj², Jorn Klein³, Fedila Yassin Ali⁴, Shuma Gosha Kanfe¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Informatics, College of Health Sciences, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia.
² Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mettu University, Mettu, Ethiopia.
³ University of South-Eastern Norway, Porsgrunn, Norway.
⁴ Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Wolkite University, Wolkite, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background: Several vaccines have been approved in a lot of countries to combat coronavirus disease and distributed throughout the world. Health professional's knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose were poorly implemented and understood in Ethiopia's health facilities. The main purpose of conducting this study was to investigate health professionals' knowledge and attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose at public hospitals in Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from January to March, 2021 to assess the knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine dose among health professionals working at public health facilities in Ethiopia. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify predictors that correlate with knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose with a P-value<0.05 as a cut-off point for statistical significance at 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Four hundred and nine study subjects participated, with a response rate of 96.7%. In this study, more than half of the respondents had high knowledge towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Similarly, 95.6% of respondents had a favorable attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=1.82, 95% CI=1.1-2.2), age (AOR=2.01, 95% CI=1.76-3.01), and profession (AOR=2.32, 95% CI=1.42-3.01) were variables associated with knowledge towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=5.42, 95% CI=4.1-6.7), age (AOR=12.4, 95% CI=10.54-15.8), professionals (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32-6.87), working experience (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32-6.87), marital status (AOR=2.47, 95% CI=1.33-5.95), risk degree (AOR=2.33, 95% CI=1.31-4.11) and gender (AOR=3.42, 95% CI=2.91-4.98) were determinant factors of attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Conclusion: Addressing problems related with risk degree, educational status, and socio-demographic factors will help to increase the overall knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Keywords: COVID-19; Ethiopia; attitude; health professionals; knowledge; second vaccine dose.