Health Beliefs Model and Vaccine Acceptance: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic among Non-Medical Personnel in  Mwanza, Tanzania

Background Without vaccine, attaining herd immunity remains a global challenge. While medical personnel have been a focus for vaccine promotion and improving immunization, non-medical personnel (NMPs) working in hospital settings remain unconsidered and understudied in Tanzania. Given their routine interaction with patients, NMPs can play a key role as agents in the spread of nosocomial infections. This study aimed to assess vaccine acceptance level in this vulnerable, predisposed population using the health belief model (HBM) as a guiding frame to obtain insights from the COVID-19 vaccine in Tanzania. Methods A total of 203 purposively selected NMPs from three health facilities in Mwanza City were involved in a cross-sectional study. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were performed, results were presented, and the associations were reported using adjusted odds ratios from logistic regression with 95% confidence intervals at p < 0.05. Results The overall COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was 16.75% despite 62.07% of NMPs indicating willingness to vaccinate. Hesitancy was prevalent at 65% primarily due to lack of information (19.21%), fear of side effects (17.73%) and concerns about vaccine safety (16.25%). Perceived threats (aOR: 9.89, p = 0.01), perceived barriers (aOR: 8.83, p = 0.02) and cues to action (aOR: 1.45, p = 0.05) were significantly associated factors of vaccine acceptance among NMPs. Conclusion Vaccine acceptance among NMPs remains low and the HBM provides a robust framework for understanding vaccine-related behavior. This underscores the need to address personal attitudes and mobilize effective cues to action to improve vaccine acceptance in hospital-based populations and the general population.