COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

Alhasan, Khalid; Aljamaan, Fadi; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Alshahrani, Fatimah; Bassrawi, Rolan; Alhaboob, Ali; Assiri, Rasha; Alenezi, Shuliweeh; Alaraj, Ali; Alhomoudi, Reham I.; Batais, Mohammed A.; Al-Eyadhy, Lama; Halwani, Rabih; AbdulMajeed, Naif; Al-Jedai, Ahmed; Senjab, Abdulrahman; Memish, Ziad A.; Al-Subaie, Sarah; Barry, Mazin; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.

doi:10.3390/healthcare9111566

Open AccessArticle

COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

by

Khalid Alhasan

^1,2,†

,

Fadi Aljamaan

^3,†,

Mohamad-Hani Temsah

^1,2,4,*

,

Fatimah Alshahrani

⁵

,

Rolan Bassrawi

²,

Ali Alhaboob

^1,2,

Rasha Assiri

⁶,

Shuliweeh Alenezi

⁷

,

Ali Alaraj

^8,9,

Reham I. Alhomoudi

²,

Mohammed A. Batais

¹⁰,

Lama Al-Eyadhy

¹,

Rabih Halwani

^11,12,

Naif AbdulMajeed

^2,13,

Ahmed Al-Jedai

^14,15

,

Abdulrahman Senjab

¹⁵,

Ziad A. Memish

^16,17

,

Sarah Al-Subaie

^1,2

,

Mazin Barry

⁵

and

Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq

^18,19,20

¹

Pediatric Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

²

Pediatric Department, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia

³

Critical Care Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

⁴

Prince Abdullah Ben Khaled Celiac Disease Research Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

⁵

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

⁶

Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah Bent Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

⁷

Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

⁸

Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia

⁹

Department of Medicine, Doctor Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Riyadh 11643, Saudi Arabia

¹⁰

Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

¹¹

Sharjah Institute of Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates

¹²

Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates

¹³

Pediatric Nephrology Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh 12233, Saudi Arabia

¹⁴

Deputyship of Therapeutic Affairs, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia

¹⁵

Colleges of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia

¹⁶

King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health & Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia

¹⁷

Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

¹⁸

Specialty Internal Medicine and Quality Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia

¹⁹

Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA

²⁰

Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

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^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this research.

Healthcare 2021, 9(11), 1566; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111566

Submission received: 6 September 2021 / Revised: 23 October 2021 / Accepted: 11 November 2021 / Published: 17 November 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Outbreak: Epidemiology, Research and Implications for Public Health)

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Abstract

Background: As the COVID-19 Delta variant has spread across the globe, healthcare workers’ (HCWs) knowledge, worries, and vaccine booster acceptance should be assessed. Methods: Online questionnaires aimed at HCWs in Saudi Arabia were distributed between 9 and 12 August 2021, aiming to evaluate HCWs’ perceptions and worries about the Delta variant as well as their feelings about receiving a booster-vaccine. Results: A total of 1279 HCWs participated, with 51.1% being physicians and 41.7% nurses. 92.5% were aware of the emergence of the Delta variant. Still, only 28.7% were found to have sufficient knowledge of the variant, and their level of worry about it was higher than their level of worry about the Alpha variant (2.32/5 versus 1.79/5). The main information sources cited by the participants were social media (50.5%), while 30.5% used scientific journals. Overall, 55.3% were willing to receive a vaccine booster, while one third would have preferred to receive a new mRNA vaccine specifically developed for the Delta variant. Factors associated with vaccine booster acceptance were receiving both vaccination doses (p = 0.008), believing that the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine is effective against variants (p < 0.001), and agreement that mixing/matching vaccines is effective against variants (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A high percentage of HCWs were aware of the Delta variant, but only a small fraction had decent quality of knowledge about it. The participants exhibited high worry levels and showed a modest acceptance of receiving a vaccine booster dose. These results should encourage public health officials to scale up educational efforts to disseminate reliable information about the different variants and provide recommendations about receiving a vaccine booster. Further research on methods to alleviate HCWs’ worries about emerging variants is warranted.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine booster; COVID-19 delta variant; healthcare workers’ perceptions; travel worry

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MDPI and ACS Style

Alhasan, K.; Aljamaan, F.; Temsah, M.-H.; Alshahrani, F.; Bassrawi, R.; Alhaboob, A.; Assiri, R.; Alenezi, S.; Alaraj, A.; Alhomoudi, R.I.; et al. COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers. Healthcare 2021, 9, 1566. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111566

AMA Style

Alhasan K, Aljamaan F, Temsah M-H, Alshahrani F, Bassrawi R, Alhaboob A, Assiri R, Alenezi S, Alaraj A, Alhomoudi RI, et al. COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers. Healthcare. 2021; 9(11):1566. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111566

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alhasan, Khalid, Fadi Aljamaan, Mohamad-Hani Temsah, Fatimah Alshahrani, Rolan Bassrawi, Ali Alhaboob, Rasha Assiri, Shuliweeh Alenezi, Ali Alaraj, Reham I. Alhomoudi, and et al. 2021. "COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers" Healthcare 9, no. 11: 1566. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111566

APA Style

Alhasan, K., Aljamaan, F., Temsah, M.-H., Alshahrani, F., Bassrawi, R., Alhaboob, A., Assiri, R., Alenezi, S., Alaraj, A., Alhomoudi, R. I., Batais, M. A., Al-Eyadhy, L., Halwani, R., AbdulMajeed, N., Al-Jedai, A., Senjab, A., Memish, Z. A., Al-Subaie, S., Barry, M., & Al-Tawfiq, J. A. (2021). COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers. Healthcare, 9(11), 1566. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111566

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COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers

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