COVID-19 VACCINE HESITANCY TRENDS AMONG CANADIAN HEALTHCARE WORKERS
Date
2023-05-15
Authors
Katako, Audrey
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Abstract
The novel coronavirus has been responsible for over 6 million deaths in the three years
since the pandemic began. As vaccination efforts began in December of 2020, a wave of
misinformation curtailed efforts to vaccine eligible adults across the globe, with healthcare
workers not being immune to being influenced in this way. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among
Canadian healthcare workers remains a poorly studied area. This systematic review aims to
investigate what findings exists in the literature at present, and identify avenues for future
research into strategies to combat this. A systematic literature review was conducted into existing
publications using publicly available databases for article selection. Studies were systematically
screened using the Covidence review platform and extracted data were analyzed in Microsoft
Excel and International Business Machines’ Statistical Product and Service Solutions. Results
identified a disparity between physician and nursing vaccine uptake rates as well as a dearth of
information regarding physician assistant vaccine hesitancy. Male sex, age over 50 years old and
employment in rehabilitation centres were all correlated with increased rates of vaccine
acceptance. Potential areas of future research can help to highlight and test strategies to mitigate
healthcare worker vaccine hesitancy which can be used to encourage improved uptake in future
health crises.