TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 Vaccines
T2 - Fear of Side Effects among German Health Care Workers
AU - on behalf of the CEOsys Consortium
AU - Holzmann-Littig, Christopher
AU - Frank, Tamara
AU - Schmaderer, Christoph
AU - Braunisch, Matthias C.
AU - Renders, Lutz
AU - Kranke, Peter
AU - Popp, Maria
AU - Seeber, Christian
AU - Fichtner, Falk
AU - Littig, Bianca
AU - Carbajo-Lozoya, Javier
AU - Meerpohl, Joerg J.
AU - Haller, Bernhard
AU - Allwang, Christine
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - (1) Background: Health care workers (HCWs) play a key role in increasing anti-COVID vaccination rates. Fear of potential side effects is one of the main reasons for vaccine hesitancy. We investigated which side effects are of concern to HCWs and how these are associated with vaccine hesitancy. (2) Methods: Data were collected in an online survey in February 2021 among HCWs from across Germany with 4500 included participants. Free-text comments on previously experienced vaccination side effects, and fear of short-and long-term side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination were categorized and analyzed. (3) Results: Most feared short-term side effects were vaccination reactions, allergic reactions, and limitations in daily life. Most feared long-term side effects were (auto-) immune reactions, neurological side effects, and currently unknown long-term consequences. Concerns about serious vaccination side effects were associated with vaccination refusal. There was a clear association between refusal of COVID-19 vaccination in one’s personal environment and fear of side effects. (4) Conclusions: Transparent information about vaccine side effects is needed, especially for HCW. Especially when the participants’ acquaintances advised against vaccination, they were significantly more likely to fear side effects. Thus, further education of HCW is necessary to achieve good information transfer in clusters as well.
AB - (1) Background: Health care workers (HCWs) play a key role in increasing anti-COVID vaccination rates. Fear of potential side effects is one of the main reasons for vaccine hesitancy. We investigated which side effects are of concern to HCWs and how these are associated with vaccine hesitancy. (2) Methods: Data were collected in an online survey in February 2021 among HCWs from across Germany with 4500 included participants. Free-text comments on previously experienced vaccination side effects, and fear of short-and long-term side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination were categorized and analyzed. (3) Results: Most feared short-term side effects were vaccination reactions, allergic reactions, and limitations in daily life. Most feared long-term side effects were (auto-) immune reactions, neurological side effects, and currently unknown long-term consequences. Concerns about serious vaccination side effects were associated with vaccination refusal. There was a clear association between refusal of COVID-19 vaccination in one’s personal environment and fear of side effects. (4) Conclusions: Transparent information about vaccine side effects is needed, especially for HCW. Especially when the participants’ acquaintances advised against vaccination, they were significantly more likely to fear side effects. Thus, further education of HCW is necessary to achieve good information transfer in clusters as well.
KW - COVID-19
KW - fears
KW - health care workers
KW - side-effects
KW - vaccine hesitancy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129852602&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/vaccines10050689
DO - 10.3390/vaccines10050689
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129852602
SN - 2076-393X
VL - 10
JO - Vaccines
JF - Vaccines
IS - 5
M1 - 689
ER -
