Routine OSCE to identify core communication skills required for counseling a vaccine-hesitant patient: Correspondence

Dear Editor, we would like to share ideas on the publication “Evaluation of vaccination status of health care worker (HCW)s for recommended vaccines and their acceptance of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.¹” Oygar et al. came to the following conclusion: “A majority of HCWs were willing to take COVID-19 vaccinations when accessible,” notwithstanding low immunization rates for well-established vaccines.¹ To raise vaccination rates among HCWs, Oygar et al. determined that education and administrative trust should be improved.¹ We both believe that protecting healthcare personnel against COVID-19 requires vaccination. The low vaccine coverage rate, however, may be attributed to a number of issues. We both agree that education is crucial. According to the previous report, local medical staff in poor countries still have limited awareness of COVID-19,² which could indicate an unintended reaction to vaccination. The present report, however, can draw attention to another issue that hasn’t received much attention: the vaccine’s accessibility. As Oygar et al. noted, “a majority of HCWs were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines when available.¹” In order to protect the HCW, who is one of the most dangerous occupational practitioners during the COVID-19 outbreak, enough vaccine must be provided. Even if the HCWs have good knowledge and attitude, education is useless if there is no vaccination available for them.

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The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

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