Original Research: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Southern California Nurses

The purpose of this study was to elucidate characteristics of vaccine-hesitant nurses at two large Southern California medical centers where rates of COVID-19 vaccination were lower than expected.

This study is a secondary analysis of nurse participants in a cross-sectional study conducted at the two medical centers. Participants completed an online survey regarding their demographics; work setting and role characteristics; influenza vaccination history; COVID-19 knowledge and beliefs; and personal history of COVID-19 exposure, diagnosis, and disease impact (infection or death) on those closest to them.

Of 869 nurse participants, most (78.6%) were vaccinated and 21.4% were unvaccinated; more than half of the unvaccinated participants reported being unwilling to be vaccinated ("vaccine hesitant"). The χ 2 comparisons revealed no significant differences between vaccinated and vaccine-hesitant nurses in terms of education, contact with COVID-19 patients, work environment, or having friends and family impacted by COVID-19. Binary logistic regression showed that nurses who had no history of recent influenza vaccination were 10 times more likely to be vaccine hesitant, those who had inaccurate knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines were seven times more likely to be vaccine hesitant, and younger nurses and those with a prior COVID-19 diagnosis were approximately three times more likely to be vaccine hesitant. Furthermore, 17.3% of all participants were unwilling to recommend COVID-19 vaccination to others.

The findings offer a nuanced understanding of vaccine hesitancy among nurses and will be useful to the planning and development of policies, campaigns, and interventions aimed at increasing vaccination rates among nurses. Changing attitudes is essential, and particular attention must be paid to nurses who are unwilling to recommend vaccination to others. Effective interventions are needed.