Preventive vaccination compliance among medical students and pediatricians during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has become a strength test for the national healthcare systems and medical professional communities. The pandemic gave a revealing insight into the provision of resuscitation care, a shortage of personnel and protective equipment, and the lack of effective drugs to treat a novel, poorly studied infection. Objective. To identify the attitude towards immunoprophylaxis in general and against the coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in particular among medical students and pediatricians and to assess the dynamics of compliance to vaccination in these groups. Materials and methods. The survey was conducted among the 5-6-year students of the medical and pediatric faculties of the Ryazan State Medical University (RSMU) of the Ministry of Health of Russia in 2017 and 2021, the groups of students included 250 and 225 people, respectively. The children’s polyclinic pediatrician groups included 45 and 60 people in 2017 and 2021, respectively. The survey was conducted anonymously, face-to-face, and without compulsion. The identical questionnaires asked students 13 questions and pediatricians 10 questions with suggested response options. Results and discussion. The percentage of students who correctly named the number of vaccine preventable diseases in the National Immunisation Schedule has significantly decreased; the number of students who were not aware of the availability of the chickenpox vaccine has increased by 1.9 times. In 2021, the number of students giving priority to domestic vaccines decreased by 2.3 times, and the number of those choosing imported drugs as better and safer ones has increased by 1.5 times. In 2021, the number of senior students who were vaccinated against influenza doubled as compared to 2017. At the same time, the students agreed to recommend their patients to be vaccinated against influenza 1.4 times more often.  During the 2021 pediatrician survey, the number of respondents, who preferred imported vaccines as better and safer ones, increased by 4 times, and the number of domestic vaccine advocates decreased by 1.8 times. In addition, the number of pediatricians who did not decide on this issue has increased by 9.8 times. Сonclusion. The results of the survey showed that there is still a lack of compliance to vaccine prophylaxis in certain groups of the professional medical community. The student cohort showed a decrease in knowledge and confidence in the vaccine prophylaxis. Among practitioners, there has been a positive trend towards an increase in the percentage of pediatricians, who considered it expedient to vaccinate children with chronic pathology.