Trust and the demand for autonomy may explain the low rates of immunizations among nurses

Rates of vaccinations of healthcare workers with recommended vaccines are generally low in the developed countries. Our goals were to identify attitudes associated with self-reported vaccinations against pertussis and seasonal influenza among Israeli nurses in Mother and Child Healthcare Centers (MCHC) in the Haifa District. Over 100 nurses answered a self-administered questionnaire. Forty two percent of the nurses reported receiving the pertussis vaccine in the last five years and 44% reported receiving the influenza vaccine during the previous year. Attitudes toward the importance of vaccinating nurses, trust in the public health authorities and demand for autonomy were associated with receiving the pertussis vaccine. Attitudes toward the importance of vaccinating nurses and trust were associated with receiving the influenza vaccine in a bivariant analysis. However, in the logistic regression models only attitudes toward the importance of vaccinating nurses were associated with vaccinations [odds ratio (OR)- 3.66, 95% confidence interval (CI)- 1.4-9.6 for pertussis and OR- 4.53, CI-1.6-13.0 for influenza]. Jewish nurses reported more often receiving the influenza vaccine compared with the Arab nurses, whereas there was no difference between them in receiving the pertussis vaccine. Low levels of positive attitudes toward the importance of vaccinating nurses may inhibit nurses in MCHC from receiving vaccines. The demand for autonomy and low levels of trust may, in part, form these low levels of positive attitudes toward the importance of vaccinating nurses.