tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS Med
. 2021 Nov 5;18(11):e1003823.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003823. eCollection 2021 Nov.
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake in a multi-ethnic UK healthcare workforce: A cross-sectional study
Christopher A Martin[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Colette Marshall[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Prashanth Patel[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Charles Goss[SUP] 6 [/SUP], David R Jenkins[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Claire Ellwood[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Linda Barton[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Arthur Price[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Nigel J Brunskill[SUP] 5 11 [/SUP], Kamlesh Khunti[SUP] 12 13 14 15 [/SUP], Manish Pareek[SUP] 1 2 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) and ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and adverse outcomes. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination is now available for frontline UK HCWs; however, demographic/occupational associations with vaccine uptake in this cohort are unknown. We sought to establish these associations in a large UK hospital workforce.
Methods and findings: We conducted cross-sectional surveillance examining vaccine uptake amongst all staff at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. We examined proportions of vaccinated staff stratified by demographic factors, occupation, and previous COVID-19 test results (serology/PCR) and used logistic regression to identify predictors of vaccination status after adjustment for confounders. We included 19,044 HCWs; 12,278 (64.5%) had received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Compared to White HCWs (70.9% vaccinated), a significantly smaller proportion of ethnic minority HCWs were vaccinated (South Asian, 58.5%; Black, 36.8%; p < 0.001 for both). After adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, occupation, SARS-CoV-2 serology/PCR results, and COVID-19-related work absences, factors found to be negatively associated with vaccine uptake were younger age, female sex, increased deprivation, pregnancy, and belonging to any non-White ethnic group (Black: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.30, 95% CI 0.26-0.34, p < 0.001; South Asian: aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.62-0.72, p < 0.001). Those who had previously had confirmed COVID-19 (by PCR) were less likely to be vaccinated than those who had tested negative. Limitations include data being from a single centre, lack of data on staff vaccinated outside the hospital system, and that staff may have taken up vaccination following data extraction.
Conclusions: Ethnic minority HCWs and those from more deprived areas as well as younger staff and female staff are less likely to take up SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. These findings have major implications for the delivery of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination programmes, in HCWs and the wider population, and should inform the national vaccination programme to prevent the disparities of the pandemic from widening.
. 2021 Nov 5;18(11):e1003823.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003823. eCollection 2021 Nov.
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake in a multi-ethnic UK healthcare workforce: A cross-sectional study
Christopher A Martin[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Colette Marshall[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Prashanth Patel[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Charles Goss[SUP] 6 [/SUP], David R Jenkins[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Claire Ellwood[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Linda Barton[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Arthur Price[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Nigel J Brunskill[SUP] 5 11 [/SUP], Kamlesh Khunti[SUP] 12 13 14 15 [/SUP], Manish Pareek[SUP] 1 2 14 15 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34739480
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003823
Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) and ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and adverse outcomes. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination is now available for frontline UK HCWs; however, demographic/occupational associations with vaccine uptake in this cohort are unknown. We sought to establish these associations in a large UK hospital workforce.
Methods and findings: We conducted cross-sectional surveillance examining vaccine uptake amongst all staff at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. We examined proportions of vaccinated staff stratified by demographic factors, occupation, and previous COVID-19 test results (serology/PCR) and used logistic regression to identify predictors of vaccination status after adjustment for confounders. We included 19,044 HCWs; 12,278 (64.5%) had received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Compared to White HCWs (70.9% vaccinated), a significantly smaller proportion of ethnic minority HCWs were vaccinated (South Asian, 58.5%; Black, 36.8%; p < 0.001 for both). After adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, occupation, SARS-CoV-2 serology/PCR results, and COVID-19-related work absences, factors found to be negatively associated with vaccine uptake were younger age, female sex, increased deprivation, pregnancy, and belonging to any non-White ethnic group (Black: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.30, 95% CI 0.26-0.34, p < 0.001; South Asian: aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.62-0.72, p < 0.001). Those who had previously had confirmed COVID-19 (by PCR) were less likely to be vaccinated than those who had tested negative. Limitations include data being from a single centre, lack of data on staff vaccinated outside the hospital system, and that staff may have taken up vaccination following data extraction.
Conclusions: Ethnic minority HCWs and those from more deprived areas as well as younger staff and female staff are less likely to take up SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. These findings have major implications for the delivery of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination programmes, in HCWs and the wider population, and should inform the national vaccination programme to prevent the disparities of the pandemic from widening.