ATTITUDES TOWARDS COVID-19 VACCINATION AMONG PATIENTS AND STAFF OF WOMEN'S HEALTH CLINICS
Authors:   Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, Buzin Valery , Shikina Irina ,   Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, Armashevskaya Olga ,   Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Published: August 2024

Significance. The pandemic of coronavirus infection has raised the question of effective methods of prevention in pregnant women, since the course of this type of infection is accompanied by a high risk of severe endotheliopathy, disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome, septic shock, thromboembolic complications and maternal mortality. Scientific literature has repeatedly shown that the most effective method of protection in a pandemic is, of course, vaccination, the experience of which in some infections in pregnant women has been accumulated in world practice. In general, the task of identifying the attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination and infectious disease vaccination both among the socio-demographic group of pregnant women and a wider group of visitors and staff of women's health clinics remains insufficiently investigated. The purpose of the study was to identify current attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 among patients and staff of women's health clinics in pilot regions of the Russian Federation. Material and methods. A sociological survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire in three pilot regions of the Russian Federation (pilot cities – Moscow, Chelyabinsk and Nizhnevartovsk). A total sample included 1,049 respondents: 343 respondents in Moscow, 316 respondents in Chelyabinsk, and 390 respondents in Nizhnevartovsk. The following methods were used: sociological and descriptive statistics. Statistical data processing was carried out in SPSS 22.0 data processing package. Results. The study has identified positive age-related dynamics in vaccination adherence exemplified by COVID-19 vaccination. Older people care more about their health. According to the study data, the number of people with a low assessment of the level of protection from infectious diseases provided by the existing vaccines is comparable to the number of the respondents who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. Thus, in order to increase vaccination coverage, it is necessary to implement outreach efforts among this population group to explain usefulness of vaccination and mechanism of the human body's immune system in terms of increasing its sustainability during vaccination. The study has also revealed a lack of understanding of possible severe pregnancy complications in case of infectious diseases among the respondents. It is shown that it is especially important to explain the danger of infectious diseases during pregnancy to the young audience, since it is the age group under 35 that shows especially high misunderstanding of the danger of infectious diseases for the unborn child. The study shows that logical argumentation doesn’t not always hit the nail on the head; for a third of the respondents, the information reasoned by statistical data or scientific research is not credible and convincing. For this part of the audience, it is necessary to look for approaches that affect a more emotional sphere. The study has identified that it is necessary to build trust in the Russian vaccines, although in general the survey showed a fairly high level of trust in the Russian vaccines (54.2%) with a practically unchanged level of complete distrust (21.0%) among the respondents in the studied socio-demographic group. Conclusion. The overall level of vaccination against COVID-19 in the study group is quite high. The level of trust in the Russian vaccines requires more active outreach efforts to explain their safety and high quality. Promotion of vaccine prevention should be multidirectional: both using rational arguments and appealing to the emotional sphere of the recipients, as well as explaining in more detail the mechanisms of immunity and principles of vaccine action. Scope of application. Formation of approaches to public outreach on vaccine promotion.