Published right this moment within the December situation of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the evaluation discovered that vaccination charges elevated from 36% to 60% in simply 4 months between January and April 2021, however then slowed considerably, reaching 70% as of September 2021. Vaccination charges had been highest amongst HCP in youngsters’s hospitals and metropolitan counties.
“Our analysis revealed that vaccine coverage among U.S. hospital-based HCP stalled significantly after initial uptake,” mentioned Hannah Reses, MPH, a member of the CDC workforce that carried out the evaluation and the paper’s lead writer. “Additional efforts are needed now to improve HCP vaccine coverage and reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to patients and other hospital staff.”
Reses and her colleagues evaluated knowledge voluntarily reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Unified Hospital Data Surveillance System on COVID-19 vaccination protection amongst hospital-based HCP between January 20, 2021, and September 15, 2021. Among 5,085 youngsters’s hospitals, short-term acute care hospitals (ACH), long-term ACH, and important entry hospitals within the system, a total of two,086 reported knowledge on HCP vaccination protection and total personnel numbers and met particular evaluation validation checks. The quantity and vary of amenities included within the evaluation enabled the researchers to evaluate vaccination charges by hospital kind and the traits of the county by which the hospitals are situated (e.g., rural vs. metropolitan).
Researchers noticed highest vaccination protection amongst HCP in youngsters’s hospitals (77%), adopted by these in short-term ACH (70.1%), long-term ACH (68.8%) and important entry hospitals (64%). HCP working in amenities situated in metropolitan counties had the very best vaccination charges as in comparison with these in rural counties and non-metropolitan rural counties (71%, 65.1% and 63.3%, respectively).
Notably, whereas vaccination protection elevated simply 5% from April to August 2021, it elevated one other 5% in only one month from August to September.
“Hospital-based HCP play a critical role in influencing community uptake of vaccines and are also at increased risk of both acquiring and transmitting COVID-19 in healthcare settings,” mentioned Ann Marie Pettis, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, and APIC 2021 president. “The findings from this analysis suggest that vaccine mandates as well as investment in additional educational and promotional activities could help increase vaccine coverage among HCP to better protect public health.”
Source: Eurekalert
