Table 1. Dataa on attitudes and opinions of healthcare workersb towards future COVID-19 vaccines, in Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels), France (whole country) and Canada (Quebec), October–November 2020 (n = 2,678).
| Survey data | COUNTRY Area considered Number of participants (% of total) |
p valued | Total 2,678 (100%) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRANCE Whole country 1,209c (45%) |
BELGIUM Wallonia and Brussels 414c (16%) |
CANADA Quebec 1,055c (39%) |
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| Numberc | %e | Numberc | %e | Numberc | %e | Numberf | %f | ||
| Age in years | |||||||||
| 18 to 39 | 147 | 12.16 | 83 | 19.98 | 507 | 48.05 | <0.001 | 920 | 34.37 |
| 40 to 59 | 620 | 51.27 | 128 | 31.05 | 482 | 45.68 | 1,250 | 46.67 | |
| ≥ 60 | 442 | 36.57 | 203 | 48.97 | 66 | 6.27 | 508 | 18.96 | |
| Genderg | |||||||||
| Male | 736 | 60.87 | 237 | 57.28 | 121 | 11.50 | <0.001 | 823 | 30.75 |
| Female | 473 | 39.13 | 177 | 42.72 | 934 | 88.50 | 1,855 | 69.25 | |
| If a vaccine against COVID-19 were available, would you be willing to recommend it to your patients? | |||||||||
| Yes, certainly | 607 | 50.19 | 169 | 40.73 | 480 | 45.48 | <0.001 | 1,253 | 46.77 |
| Yes, probably | 352 | 29.08 | 167 | 40.46 | 360 | 34.14 | 879 | 32.83 | |
| No, probably not | 63 | 5.24 | 5 | 1.17 | 20 | 1.92 | 80 | 2.98 | |
| No, certainly not | 12 | 0.97 | 4 | 0.95 | 13 | 1.23 | 30 | 1.13 | |
| Do not know | 175 | 14.51 | 69 | 16.69 | 182 | 17.22 | 436 | 16.29 | |
| If a vaccine against COVID-19 were available, would you be willing to be vaccinated yourself? | |||||||||
| Yes, certainly | 562 | 46.53 | 164 | 39.50 | 452 | 42.85 | 0.11 | 1,175 | 43.88 |
| Yes, probably | 348 | 28.83 | 151 | 36.53 | 291 | 27.56 | 764 | 28.52 | |
| No, probably not | 74 | 6.09 | 29 | 7.01 | 69 | 6.55 | 172 | 6.43 | |
| No, certainly not | 60 | 4.93 | 10 | 2.36 | 56 | 5.28 | 134 | 4.99 | |
| Do not know | 165 | 13.62 | 60 | 14.60 | 187 | 17.75 | 433 | 16.18 | |
| COVID-19 vaccine acceptance | |||||||||
| High | 612 | 50.59 | 177 | 42.80 | 507 | 48.07 | 0.0036 | 1,302 | 48.60 |
| Moderate | 295 | 24.39 | 138 | 33.23 | 224 | 21.24 | 616 | 23.02 | |
| Hesitancy/reluctance | 302 | 25.02 | 99 | 23.97 | 324 | 30.69 | 760 | 28.39 | |
| Were you vaccinated against seasonal influenza for the winter 2019/20 season? | |||||||||
| Yes | 1,031 | 85.30 | 347 | 83.86 | 636 | 60.27 | <0.001 | 1,876 | 70.06 |
| No/do not know | 178 | 14.70 | 67 | 16.14 | 419 | 39.73 | 802 | 29.94 | |
| Do you sometimes hesitate to recommend some vaccines on the official schedule for your patients, for example, when you have questions about their benefits or risks? | |||||||||
| For adults (≥ 18 years old) with a chronic disease | |||||||||
| Never | 893 | 73.84 | 318 | 76.83 | 505 | 47.86 | <0.001 | 1,561 | 58.28 |
| Sometimes/often/always/do not know | 316 | 26.16 | 95 | 22.98 | 333 | 31.54 | 783 | 29.23 | |
| Does not apply to my practice | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0.19 | 217 | 20.60 | 334 | 12.49 | |
| Among adults aged ≥ 65 years old | |||||||||
| Never | 892 | 73.82 | 297 | 71.66 | 470 | 44.56 | <0.001 | 1,499 | 55.97 |
| Sometimes/often/always/do not know | 317 | 26.18 | 116 | 27.95 | 375 | 35.53 | 856 | 31.95 | |
| Does not apply to my practice | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0.39 | 210 | 19.91 | 323 | 12.08 | |
| The safety of a vaccine developed in an emergency, during an epidemic, cannot be considered guaranteed | |||||||||
| Agreeh | 546 | 45.15 | 150 | 36.30 | 411 | 38.97 | 0.0018 | 1,095 | 40.88 |
| Disagreeh | 513 | 42.45 | 198 | 47.78 | 444 | 42.09 | 1,139 | 42.55 | |
| Do not know | 150 | 12.39 | 66 | 15.92 | 200 | 18.94 | 444 | 16.57 | |
| In your opinion, for the population as a whole, how serious is COVID-19 on a scale of 0 to 10?i | |||||||||
| Low (scale: 0–4) | 332 | 27.46 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 332 | 27.46 |
| Moderate/do not know (scale: 5–6) | 376 | 31.08 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 376 | 31.08 | |
| High (scale: 7–10) | 501 | 41.46 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 501 | 41.46 | |
| It is preferable to acquire immunity against infectious diseases naturally (by having the disease) than by vaccination | |||||||||
| Agreeh/do not know | 99 | 8.22 | 31 | 7.45 | 134 | 12.67 | 0.0062 | 291 | 10.87 |
| Disagreeh | 1,110 | 91.78 | 383 | 92.55 | 921 | 87.33 | 2,387 | 89.13 | |
| I trust science to develop safe effective new vaccines | |||||||||
| Agreeh | 1,156 | 95.59 | 390 | 94.32 | 971 | 92.00 | 0.0057 | 2,500 | 93.34 |
| Disagreeh/do not know | 53 | 4.41 | 24 | 5.68 | 84 | 8.00 | 178 | 6.66 | |
| I trust the ministry of health to ensure that vaccines are safe | |||||||||
| Agreeh | 918 | 75.90 | 294 | 70.93 | 918 | 87.04 | <0.001 | 2,205 | 82.35 |
| Disagreeh | 218 | 18.07 | 96 | 23.28 | 74 | 6.98 | 313 | 11.67 | |
| Do not know | 73 | 6.03 | 24 | 5.79 | 63 | 5.98 | 160 | 5.98 | |
COVID-19: coronavirus disease; GP: general practioner; NA: not applicable.
a Data are weighted, unless otherwise specified.
b In France (whole country) and Belgium (Brussels and Wallonia) GPs took part in the survey. In Canada (Quebec) nurses took part.
c Unweighted figures.
d The differences between the three country samples is assessed using a chi-squared test (with Rao–Scott correction).
e Weighted percentages (for each country, the percentages were weighted according to age, gender and region).
f Weighted for the whole sample (including the three countries).
g Gender was considered in the study, rather than sex, to capture socio-cognitive factors associated with healthcare workers’ attitudes and practices.
h Strongly or somewhat.
i Question asked to participants in France only.
The bold font indicates statistical significance at the p<0.05 level.