Strategic silences, eroded trust: The impact of divergent COVID-19 vaccine sentiments on healthcare workers' relations with peers and patients.

Autor: Heyerdahl LW; Department of Global Health, Anthropology and Ecology of Disease Emergence Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. Electronic address: leonard.heyerdahl@pasteur.fr., Dielen S; Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium., Dodion H; Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium., Van Riet C; Access-To-Medicines Research Centre, KU Leuven, Belgium., Nguyen T; Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium., Simas C; Vaccine Confidence Project and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom., Boey L; Access-To-Medicines Research Centre, KU Leuven, Belgium., Kattumana T; Access-To-Medicines Research Centre, KU Leuven, Belgium; Husserl Archives, Research Center for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium., Vandaele N; Access-To-Medicines Research Centre, KU Leuven, Belgium., Larson HJ; Vaccine Confidence Project and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom., Grietens KP; Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium; School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan., Giles-Vernick T; Department of Global Health, Anthropology and Ecology of Disease Emergence Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France., Gryseels C; Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Vaccine [Vaccine] 2023 Jan 23; Vol. 41 (4), pp. 883-891. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Oct 27.
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.10.048
Abstrakt: Background: Polarized debates about Covid-19 vaccination and vaccine mandates for healthcare workers (HCWs) challenge Belgian HCWs ability to discuss Covid-19 vaccine sentiments with peers and patients.Although studies have identified drivers of HCWs vaccine hesitancy, they do not include effects of workplace interactions and have not addressed consequences beyond vaccine coverage.
Methods: Interviews and focus group discussions with 74 HCWs practicing in Belgium addressed Covid-19 vaccine sentiments and experiences of discussing vaccination with peers and patients.
Results: Most participating HCWs reported difficulties discussing Covid-19 vaccination with peers and patients. Unvaccinated HCWs often feared that expressing their vaccine sentiments might upset patients or peers and that they would be suspended. Consequently, they used social cues to evaluate others' openness to vaccine-skeptical discourses and avoided discussing vaccines. Surprisingly, some vaccine-confident HCWs hid their vaccine sentiments to avoid peer and patient conflicts. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs observed that unvaccinated patients occasionally received suboptimal care. Suboptimal care was central in unvaccinated HCW unwillingness to express their vaccine sentiments to peers. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs described loss of trust and ruptured social relations with peers and patients holding divergent vaccine sentiments.
Discussion: Belgian HCW perceived Covid-19 vaccines as a risky discussion topic and engaged in "strategic silences" around vaccination to maintain functional work relationships and employment in health institutions. Loss of trust between HCW and peers or patients, along with suboptimal patient care based on vaccination status, threaten to weaken Belgium's, and by implication, other health systems, and to catalyze preventable disease outbreaks.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Koen Peeters Grietens reports financial support was provided by Vaccine Confidence Fund. Heidi J Larson reports a relationship with Ellen MacArthur Foundation that includes: funding grants. Heidi J Larson reports a relationship with Johnson & Johnson that includes: funding grants. Heidi J Larson reports a relationship with UNICEF that includes: funding grants. Koen Peeters Grieten reports a relationship with Research Foundation Flanders that includes: funding grants.
(Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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