Healthcare workers’ attitudes toward children getting Covid-19 vaccinations in Gaza Strip

Abstract

Abstract Background and objectives Healthcare workers’ (HCWs) attitudes toward vaccine greatly influences individuals’ vaccine acceptance rate. Research in high-income countries identified five key person-level factors for vaccine hesitancy. Perception of vaccine were different in low-income or developing country, and the reason for vaccine hesitancy might not be the same as that in developed countries. This study assesses HCWs parents’ attitude toward their child getting COVID-19 vaccine and the potential influencing factors in HCWs living in Gaza Strip. Method This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey collected from 245 HCWs in Gaza between February and May in 2021. Multinominal logistic regression was used to model the association between vaccine hesitancy and potential influencing factors. Results Only 27.2% HCWs parents in Gaza responded that they would like their children to get vaccinated. Higher perceived benefits of vaccine and having flu shot in last year were significantly related to higher vaccine intention (P-values <0.001). However, perceived susceptibility, perceived vaccine safety, and vaccine effectiveness were not significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion Intervention in Gaza Strip should focus on educating people on vaccine benefits to foster the acceptance of the vaccine.