Decreased Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Chinese Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background Healthcare workers were the priority group for influenza vaccination, however, the vaccination rate among them in China had always been low. This study was conducted to investigate the influenza vaccination status among Chinese healthcare workers (HCWs) during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 influenza seasons and analyze the factors driving vaccination. Methods We provided Electronic questionnaires to the healthcare workers from January 27, 2022 to February 21, 2022 using the WeChat platform "Breath Circles". Binary logistic regression models were used to analyze the factors associated with vaccination among healthcare workers. Results Among the 1697 healthcare workers surveyed, the vaccination coverage during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 influenza seasons was 43.67% (741/1697) and 35.36% (600/1697), respectively. Additionally, during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 influenza seasons, only 22.69% (385/1697) and 22.10% (358/1697) surveyed healthcare workers reported that their workplaces implemented the free vaccination policy for all employees, respectively. Conclusions Free influenza vaccination policy and workplace mandatory vaccination are effective in improving the influenza vaccination coverage in healthcare workers. The Chinese healthcare workers’ influenza vaccination coverage remained low and showed a downward trend after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further effective measures should be taken to improve influenza vaccination coverage.