Evaluating the Motivation to Accept/Not Accept the COVID-19 Vaccination and its Related Factors in Health Care Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of vaccine acceptance, side effects, and factors encouraging/disincentivizing vaccination among healthcare workers. Methods: A descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 315 health workers at Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah, Iran, in 2021. The samples were selected through a simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, and the collected data were analyzed in STATA-17 software. Results: The vaccine acceptance rate was 84.1% (n = 265), and the vaccine refusal rate was 15.9% (n = 50). The most injected vaccines were Sinopharm (n = 112, 42.3%) and Sputnik (n = 88, 33.2%), respectively. The most common side effects after vaccine injection were fatigue (34.8%, n=39) and myalgia (14.3%, n = 16). Being in a high-risk place (n = 199, 75.2%) and fear of contracting COVID-19 (n = 88, 33.5%) were the most important reasons for encouraging vaccination. About 36.7% (n = 18) of blood clotting, 26.5% (n = 14) cardiac arrest, short-term safety, and distrust were the essential factors for not accepting the vaccine. Conclusions: Based on the results, the prevalence of vaccine acceptance among health workers was high. However, a small percentage did not want to accept the vaccine due to negative news and a lack of trust in the vaccine. Therefore, it is necessary to establish strong educational and awareness-raising associations that transmit knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine by focusing on false information.