tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Viruses
. 2021 Dec 24;14(1):26.
doi: 10.3390/v14010026.
Vaccination Hesitancy among Health-Care-Workers in Academic Hospitals Is Associated with a 12-Fold Increase in the Risk of COVID-19 Infection: A Nine-Month Greek Cohort Study
Fotinie Ntziora[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Evangelia Georgia Kostaki[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Ioannis Grigoropoulos[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Amalia Karapanou[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ismini Kliani[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Maria Mylona[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexa Thomollari[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Sotirios Tsiodras[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Theoklis Zaoutis[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Dimitrios Paraskevis[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Nikolaos V Sipsas[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Anastasia Antoniadou[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Petros P Sfikakis[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Health-Care-Workers (HCWs) are considered at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. We sought to compare rates and severity of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs conducting a retrospective cohort study in two tertiary Academic Hospitals, namely Laiko and Attikon, in Athens, Greece. Vaccinated by BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and unvaccinated HCWs were included and data were collected between 1 January 2021 and 15 September 2021. Overall, 2921 of 3219 HCWs without a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were fully vaccinated during the study period (90.7% at each Hospital). Demographic characteristics were comparable between 102/2921 (3.5%) vaccinated and 88/298 (29.5%) unvaccinated HCWs with COVID-19, although age and occupation differed significantly. None were in need of hospital admission in the vaccinated Group, whereas in the unvaccinated Group 4/88 (4.5%) were hospitalized and one (1.1%) died. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that lack of vaccination was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 with an odds ratio 11.54 (95% CI: 10.75-12.40). Vaccination hesitancy among HCWs resulted to highly increased COVID-19 rates; almost one in three unvaccinated HCWs was SARS-CoV-2 infected during the 9-month period. The absolute need of vaccination of HCWs, including boosting dose, is highlighted. Evidence should be used appropriately to overcome any hesitancy.
Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Health-Care-Workers (HCWs); hesitancy; infection rate; vaccine.
. 2021 Dec 24;14(1):26.
doi: 10.3390/v14010026.
Vaccination Hesitancy among Health-Care-Workers in Academic Hospitals Is Associated with a 12-Fold Increase in the Risk of COVID-19 Infection: A Nine-Month Greek Cohort Study
Fotinie Ntziora[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Evangelia Georgia Kostaki[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Ioannis Grigoropoulos[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Amalia Karapanou[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ismini Kliani[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Maria Mylona[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexa Thomollari[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Sotirios Tsiodras[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Theoklis Zaoutis[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Dimitrios Paraskevis[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Nikolaos V Sipsas[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Anastasia Antoniadou[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Petros P Sfikakis[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35062230
- DOI: 10.3390/v14010026
Abstract
Health-Care-Workers (HCWs) are considered at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. We sought to compare rates and severity of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs conducting a retrospective cohort study in two tertiary Academic Hospitals, namely Laiko and Attikon, in Athens, Greece. Vaccinated by BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and unvaccinated HCWs were included and data were collected between 1 January 2021 and 15 September 2021. Overall, 2921 of 3219 HCWs without a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were fully vaccinated during the study period (90.7% at each Hospital). Demographic characteristics were comparable between 102/2921 (3.5%) vaccinated and 88/298 (29.5%) unvaccinated HCWs with COVID-19, although age and occupation differed significantly. None were in need of hospital admission in the vaccinated Group, whereas in the unvaccinated Group 4/88 (4.5%) were hospitalized and one (1.1%) died. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that lack of vaccination was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 with an odds ratio 11.54 (95% CI: 10.75-12.40). Vaccination hesitancy among HCWs resulted to highly increased COVID-19 rates; almost one in three unvaccinated HCWs was SARS-CoV-2 infected during the 9-month period. The absolute need of vaccination of HCWs, including boosting dose, is highlighted. Evidence should be used appropriately to overcome any hesitancy.
Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Health-Care-Workers (HCWs); hesitancy; infection rate; vaccine.
