Knowledge and Attitude Towards Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Among Health Professionals Working at Public Health Facilities in a Low Income Country

Background: Several vaccines have been approved in a lot of countries to combat coronavirus disease and distributed throughout the world. Health professional's knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose were poorly implemented and understood in Ethiopia's health facilities. The main purpose of conducting this study was to investigate health professionals' knowledge and attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose at public hospitals in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from January to March, 2021 to assess the knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine dose among health professionals working at public health facilities in Ethiopia. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify predictors that correlate with knowledge and attitude towards a second COVID-19 vaccine dose with a P-value<0.05 as a cut-off point for statistical significance at 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Four hundred and nine study subjects participated, with a response rate of 96.7%. In this study, more than half of the respondents had high knowledge towards second COVID19 vaccine doses. Similarly, 95.6% of respondents had a favorable attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=1.82, 95% CI=1.1-2.2), age (AOR=2.01, 95% CI=1.76-3.01), and profession (AOR=2.32, 95% CI=1.42-3.01) were variables associated with knowledge towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses. Educational status (AOR=5.42, 95% CI=4.1-6.7), age (AOR=12.4, 95% CI=10.54-15.8), professionals (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32-6.87), working experience (AOR=4.33, 95% CI=2.32-6.87), marital status (AOR=2.47, 95% CI=1.33-5.95), risk degree (AOR=2.33, 95% CI=1.31-4.11) and gender (AOR=3.42, 95% CI=2.91-4.98) were determinant factors of attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose. Conclusion: Addressing problems related with risk degree, educational status, and sociodemographic factors will help to increase the overall knowledge and attitude towards second COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Automated summary

This study found that over half of the respondents had high knowledge about the second COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 95.6% of them had a favorable attitude towards it. Factors such as educational status, age, and profession were associated with knowledge, while factors like educational status, age, profession, working experience, marital status, risk degree, and gender were determinant factors of attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose. Addressing issues related to risk degree, educational status, and sociodemographic factors could help improve overall knowledge and attitude towards the second COVID-19 vaccine dose.