{"title":"COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance or Refusal Among US Nurses: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study.","authors":"Jacqueline Christianson, Norah L Johnson, Jill Guttormson, Bonnie Sommers-Olson, Madaline McCarthy","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Nurse turnover has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse refusal of mandated vaccines contributes to understaffing and affects patient health outcomes. The purposes of this study were to describe (1) nurse reasons for COVID-19 vaccine decisions and (2) the relationship between vaccine status and nurse characteristics.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional descriptive study employed a survey of US nurses who worked in nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included a free-text question about COVID-19 vaccine uptake rationale, self-reported vaccine acceptance/refusal, and demographic data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 1682 participants, 11.2% refused the COVID-19 vaccine. Higher education level was correlated with greater vaccine acceptance rates (<i>P</i> < 0.001). Themes for vaccine rationale included safeguarding well-being, trust in the science, coercion to vaccinate, perceived immunity, and concern about preexisting health conditions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The risks of COVID-19 vaccine mandates may be greater than the potential benefits given the potential for compounding workforce attrition during a nursing staffing crisis. Further research is needed to outline the relationships between vaccine education, advocacy, and vaccine uptake among nurses.</p>","PeriodicalId":94268,"journal":{"name":"WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Nurse turnover has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse refusal of mandated vaccines contributes to understaffing and affects patient health outcomes. The purposes of this study were to describe (1) nurse reasons for COVID-19 vaccine decisions and (2) the relationship between vaccine status and nurse characteristics.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study employed a survey of US nurses who worked in nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included a free-text question about COVID-19 vaccine uptake rationale, self-reported vaccine acceptance/refusal, and demographic data.
Results: Of the 1682 participants, 11.2% refused the COVID-19 vaccine. Higher education level was correlated with greater vaccine acceptance rates (P < 0.001). Themes for vaccine rationale included safeguarding well-being, trust in the science, coercion to vaccinate, perceived immunity, and concern about preexisting health conditions.
Conclusions: The risks of COVID-19 vaccine mandates may be greater than the potential benefits given the potential for compounding workforce attrition during a nursing staffing crisis. Further research is needed to outline the relationships between vaccine education, advocacy, and vaccine uptake among nurses.