title: INFLUENZA VACCINATION UPTAKE AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS AT A MALAYSIAN TEACHING HOSPITAL.
abstract: Annual influenza vaccination is the most important preventive strategy against influenza illness in healthcare workers (HCWs), who could acquire influenza from and transmit influenza to patients and other HCWs. Despite the well established benefits and strong recommendations for influenza vaccination for all HCWs, influenza vaccination uptake at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) for the past 3 years has been low and is decreasing. We aimed to determine the factors associated with influenza vaccination uptake among HCWs at UKMMC. We conducted a cross sectional study via questionnaire among 211 randomly selected HCWs, consisting of 106 HCWs who were vaccinated in 2011 and 105 HCWs who were not vaccinated in 2010 or 2011. We had a 100% response rate. Influenza vaccination uptake was significantly associated with age and previous vaccination history, with older HCWs being more likely to be vaccinated (adjusted OR = 12.494; 95% CI:6.278-24.863; p < 0.001) and HCWs with previous vaccination history being more likely to be vaccinated (adjusted OR = 1.038; 95% CI:1.001-1.077; p = 0.045). Influenza vaccination uptake was not associated with gender (p = 0.926) or job category (p = 0.220). Publicity at the workplace was the main source of information about the vaccine (51.2% of respondents), followed by colleagues (29.9%). Despite the low uptake, 85.3% of respondents believed influenza vaccination was important for disease prevention. The most common reason given for vaccination was protection against influenza infection (73.6%). The most common reason for not having the vaccine was time constraints (56.2%). An evidenced-based strategy needs to be developed to improve vaccine uptake or having mandatory vaccination.
authors.forename: Zetti Zainol
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.forename: Humaira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jasme
authors.forename: Ho Jing
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Mardiyah Mohd
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Yusof
authors.forename: Zatil Zahidah Mohd
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Sharani
authors.forename: Marlyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohamad
authors.forename: Zalina
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sulong
authors.forename: Nordiah Awang
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Jalil
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient / Q000517:prevention & control; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines