INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first originated on December 31, 2019 in the city of Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of China. It was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020 due to its rapid spread from the first case and its global effect on the whole world 1. It is known that healthcare professionals were previously affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemics 2. The psychological and well-being of healthcare professionals are seriously affected by the increased workload due to the COVID-19 epidemic, having to undertake new duties in addition to their regular responsibilities’ and the anxiety of their relatives or themselves being infected by the disease3,4.
Reports sent to WHO declared that 22,073 healthcare professionals from 52 countries tested positive for COVID-19 as of 8 April 20205. A meta-analysis study determined that 10% of 119,216 COVID-19 positive cases were healthcare professionals with a mortality rate of 0.3% 6. In Turkey, 29,865 healthcare professionals were reported to be positive for COVID-19 and 52 died as a result of COVID-19 as of September 2, 2020,7. Lengthy working hours, exposure to psychological and physical violence and lack of protective equipment are known to make healthcare professionals vulnerable to infection by suppressing their immune systems 1. Previous studies demonstrated that vaccines saved more lives compared to studies conducted in the field of health. The history of modern vaccination starts with the invention of smallpox vaccine in 17898. Although work for vaccination and treatment for COVID-19 disease continues, an effective method has not been found yet. The targeted substances in vaccine studies were determined in relation to the following criteria: the vaccine will be used in people older than 60 years of age and with chronic diseases, the vaccine will not develop undesired immune responses and it will be suitable for storage9.
A study conducted with an overseas sample found that healthcare professionals would experience the same reservations against COVID-19 vaccine when it became available just like the reservations they experienced against seasonal influenza vaccine 10. In Turkey, the COVID-19 vaccination program started on January 13, 2021 with the CoronaVac inactive vaccine produced in China by the company named Sinovac. Healthcare professionals, being in the high risk group, were included in the vaccination program in the first phase11. The literature offers limited studies on healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, this study aimed to determine healthcare professionals’ fear of COVID-19 and their attitudes towards vaccination before the COVID-19 vaccination program started in Turkey.