Attitudes of Hospital Healthcare Workers towards Influenza Vaccination in a Tertiary Hospital Setting

The rate of uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination worldwide by healthcare workers (HCWs) has been suboptimal. Nationally, uptake among hospital HCWs was less than 20% prior to 2014. Indeed in our hospital following the 2010/2011 influenza season, a significant number of staff chose to have their vaccinations after the usual campaign period. The Occupational Health Department (OHD) undertook a questionnaire survey to determine the reason(s) for their late presentation. This was not anonymised, with a 21.7% participation rate (119 replied out of 548). We found 86(72.3%) HCWs believed influenza to be a serious illness, 84(70.6%) wanted to protect their family members and friends, and 64(53.8%) their patients from the infection. Nevertheless, 77(64.7%) were influenced by the recent media attention on the H1N1 influenza pandemic. We conclude external factors such as the arrival of the H1N1 pandemic continue to play an important role in influencing HCWs' attitudes towards receiving the vaccine.