Knowledge, attitudes and anxiety towards influenza A/H1N1 vaccination of healthcare workers in Turkey

The earliest confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1 (Swine flu) in 2009 was reported in Mexico in March, and the World Health Organization declared the disease to be a pandemic-Phase 6 on 11 June [1, 2].

According to WHO, as of 22 November 2009 the number of deaths resulting from pandemic H1N1 was 7826. The swine flu outbreak also affected Turkey. As of 22 November 2009, the number of deaths due to the virus was 127 in Turkey [1].

Influenza vaccines are one of the most effective ways to protect people from contracting illness during influenza epidemics and pandemics. Other preventive measures are using a mask; washing hands regularly with soap and water; aerating the environment; avoiding hugging, kissing and shaking hands; avoiding touching mouth and nose; avoiding close contact with people [1].

On 13 July 2009, the WHO also recommended that all countries should immunize their HCW as a first priority to protect the essential health infrastructure [2–4]. The potential benefits of influenza vaccination for HCW are three fold -- personal protection, protection of patients, and reduction of absenteeism [5].

Influenza A (2009 H1N1) vaccination of risk groups, primarily HCW, began on 2 November 2009 in Turkey [1]. Meanwhile, "The Prime Minister's personal refusal of getting vaccinated" and "vaccine's unsafety" appeared in Turkish media as negative news [6–12]. It can be considered that this news had an impact on the public and HCW. Negative news on the vaccine can affect people's level of anxiety related to the situation (vaccine). That HCW do not get vaccinated can be an important obstacle to success of campaigns. For this reason, in this study we aimed at researching the reasons why HCW did not to get vaccinated and the possible relation of this situation to anxiety. In Turkey there has been no study addressing the knowledge and attitudes towards influenza A/H1N1 vaccination. Thus, we carried out this study to analyze the factors associated with knowledge and attitudes towards influenza A (H1N1) and anxiety levels among HCW in two hospitals from a south-eastern city of Turkey: Gaziantep.

The average age of the participants was 31.21, and 53.7% of the sample was women. A total of 60.3% asserted that they considered swine flu as a serious outbreak, and 51.0% agreed that influenza A was a fatal disease. 82.3% stated that they did not find the vaccine protective, and 89.7% expressed a view that the vaccine was not safe, and 86.0% asserted that they did not allow their children to get vaccinated, 44.0% specified that some complications related to the vaccine in their work places occurred.

Among personal measures for protection from swine flu; participants expressed that they took measures like hand washing, avoiding close contact, and using a mask with the rates of 95.7%, 78.7%, 53.3% respectively. On the other hand, as being the most effective preventive measure vaccination was rated only 12.7%. Among vaccinated participants side effects related to the vaccine were considerably low. The most frequently seen side effects were the pain (28.9%), and swelling (7.9) and redness (2.6%) in vaccination site and fewer (18.4%).

Comparison of some variables in terms of sex, job title and work site are shown in Table 3.

In comparison with men, women were more likely to consider the vaccine as not protective (p < 0.01). They believed the vaccine was not safe (p < 0.005) and allowed their children to get vaccinated at a lower rate (p < 0.001) (Table 3). There was not a significant difference between genders in terms of personal measures taken for protection from influenza A (p > 0.05). However, women applied hand washing more frequently than men (p < 0.001).

HCW knew the name of the virus, modes of transmission and vaccine type correctly with the rates of 93.0%, 91.0% and 52.7%, respectively. It can be said that knowledge of HCW in this matter is good.

Most of the participants expressed that they found the vaccine neither protective nor safe. Similarly, in another study in Hong Kong, 61% of the participants believed that the vaccine wasn't protective, and 63% of them believed that the vaccine was unsafe as clinical experiments were not performed. Evidence about safety and efficacy is critical in determining the prevalence of uptake of vaccination [15]. Thus, HCW and the general public have to be convinced about the vaccine's efficacy and safety.

In this study, only 12.7% of HCW got vaccinated. Although a majority of the participants considered the swine flu outbreak as serious, described it as a fatal disease and had a high level of knowledge about the disease, vaccination rate was very low. Similarly, it was determined that the vaccination rates of HCW were very low in Greece, Germany and Italy [16–18].

In terms of order of importance "Being in risk group", "Declarations of the Ministry of Health" and "Death news in the media" became influential in participants' vaccination. Results of the study of Chor et al. (2009) on HCW are parallel to this study and the most common reasons to uptake the vaccine were stated as "protection demand" and "advice of health authorities" [19]. Based on these studies, we can say that health authorities' announcements and publications made through the media and similar ways have a positive effect on vaccination.

Reasons like "side effects of the vaccine" and "not believing in the protectiveness of the vaccine" "The Prime Minister's personal refusal of getting vaccinated" and "negative news about vaccine in the media" are influential factors in HCW' refusal to get vaccinated. The most important obstacles defined in the study of Chor et al. (2009) were "being anxious about the side effects" and "suspicions about the vaccine's safety". In another study, reasons to refuse the vaccine were expressed as anxiety about the vaccine's safety and efficiency [5]. It was determined that there was anxiety about the safety, efficiency and necessity of the vaccine. In the study of Rachiotis et al. (2010), the main reason to refuse the vaccine was fear of side effects, which was stronger in those who received information on the safety of the vaccine mainly from mass media [16]. Also, in our study, state anxiety levels of people who did not rely on the vaccine were found to be significantly higher than those who relied on the vaccine. However, these people's trait anxiety levels were not detected a significant high level. According to the results of this study, it is important to overcome this anxiety and to enable safety in order to convince people to get vaccinated in vaccination campaigns. In our study the Prime Minister's refusal of vaccine had a negative impact, while the advice of health authorities had a positive effect on vaccination. In this case we can say that different attitudes of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health affected the vaccination process negatively. Although we do not have certain data on this matter these different attitudes can be said to increase anxiety levels as to this situation. Consistent attitude of the government in vaccination campaigns can contribute a decrease in public anxiety, and an increase in trust.

In professional terms, doctors knew modes of transmission and type of the vaccine correctly at the highest rate, and allied health workers knew these correctly at the lowest rate. Doctors believed in the vaccine's protectiveness and safety more than the others. Also, in comparison with others, doctors gave permission to their children to get vaccinated at a higher level. In this matter, it can be recommended to give importance to inform allied health workers in vaccination campaigns.

In terms of anxiety levels, a significant difference was not detected between those who were vaccinated and those who were not vaccinated.

According to the results of this study, the vaccination rate was very low. Most of the participants believed that the vaccine was not safe. However, it was determined that reasons to refuse were mostly due to the vaccine's side effects, not believing in the vaccine's protectiveness and the Prime Minister's attitude against the vaccine and negative news about vaccine in the media. Furthermore, differences of attitude between the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister towards to the vaccine caused vaccination rates to stay low, even among HCW. Due to the number of anti-vaccine campaigns in the media and on the Internet, the acceptance of vaccination among HCW was significantly less than expected [20]. Accurate reporting by the media of the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines and the importance of vaccines for the public health would likely have a positive influence on vaccine uptake. Uncertain or negative reporting about the vaccine is detrimental to vaccination efforts. In vaccination campaigns, governments should use the media effectively to provide safety. We think that our study may contribute in vaccination campaigns.