COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Health Care Workers in the United States

ABSTRACT Background Acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine will play a major role in combating the pandemic. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are amongst the first group to receive vaccination, so it is important to consider their attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination to better address barriers to widespread vaccination acceptance. Methods We conducted a cross sectional study to assess the attitude of HCWs toward COVID-19 vaccination. Data was collected between October 7th and November 9th, 2020. We received 4080 responses out of which 3479 were complete responses and were included in final analysis. Results 36% of respondents were willing to take the vaccine as soon as it became available while 56% were not sure or would wait to review more data. Vaccine acceptance increased with increasing age, education, and income level. Lower acceptance was noted in females (31%), Black (10%), Latinx (30%) and Conservative/Republican (21%) HCWs, and those working in a rural setting (26%). Direct medical care providers had higher vaccine acceptance (49%). Safety (69%), effectiveness (69%) and speed of development/approval (74%) were noted as the most common concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination in our survey. Conclusion Immediate acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine is low, with the majority of HCWs choosing to wait to review more data before deciding on personal vaccination. Overall attitudes toward vaccination were positive but specific concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccine are prevalent. Differences in vaccine acceptance were noted between individual and group characteristics which should be addressed to avoid exacerbating health inequities.