https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8053-3178
The study by Hao and colleagues provides an important contribution to the literature on vaccine hesitancy amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, the authors surveyed northern Chinese medical staff regarding their willingness to be immunized against COVID-19 and investigated whether this data might have an influence on public opinion surrounding vaccination.Citation1 Additionally, their research highlights how social media can be harnessed to effectively combat the spread of misinformation and incentivize higher immunization rates. As vaccine administration is proactively administered to prevent illness, concerns about the legitimacy, safety, and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine have arisen due to its unprecedented and rapid development – surpassing that of the Ebola virus vaccine, previously the quickest available vaccine to market.
All study participants (n = 621) tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 via nucleic acid testing to ensure participants had not previously contracted COVID-19. The majority of surveyed healthcare workers (85.7%) indicated that they were willing to be vaccinated, potentially influenced by the participants’ medical education and background. Among those remaining, a lack of data about COVID-19 vaccine safety and the possibility of experiencing side effects were cited as barriers to immunization. mRNA vaccines have been proven to be highly effective against various infectious diseases, and typical reactions to the COVID-19 vaccination tend not to be extreme, although they can involve fever, sensitivity at the injection shot, and/or fatigue.Citation2
Medical staff can substantially influence public opinion and high rates of vaccination among healthcare workers can decrease vaccine hesitancy. As misinformation can negatively impact public perception of newly administered vaccines, bolstering public health education to combat misinformation is pertinent and can be achieved through governmental action and the designated use of streamlined media channels. Public service announcements may be useful to distribute verifiable COVID-19 information and further prevent the spread of misinformation. Additionally, social media might prove to be a viable outlet by which to spread verifiable information across multiple routes to reach a broader audience.Citation3 Mitigating misinformation has the potential to increase vaccination and our correspondence serves to highlight the need for additional research investigating vaccine hesitancy among healthcare professionals and its subsequent effect on the general public.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: TCS. Writing – original draft: SCS, TCS, ST. Writing – review & editing: SCS, TCS, ST.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
References
- Hao J, Liu H, Shi J, Wang Q, Su X, Shi Z, Yu Y, Liu B, Qiao Y. A study on the willingness and influencing factors of novel coronavirus vaccination among medical personnel in North China. Hum Vaccines Immunother. 2022;18(5):1. doi:10.1080/21645515.2022.2031775.
- Kadali RAK, Janagama R, Peruru S, Malayala SV. Side effects of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine: a randomized, cross-sectional study with detailed self-reported symptoms from healthcare workers. Int J Infect Dis. 2021;106:376–1. doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.04.047.
- Xu S, Yang K, Li R, Zhang L. mRNA vaccine era—Mechanisms, drug platform and clinical prospection. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(18):6582. doi:10.3390/ijms21186582.