SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 UK Variant of Concern Lineage-Related Perceptions, COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Travel Worry Among Healthcare Workers
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Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers' (HCWs') travel-related anxiety needs to be assessed in light of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
Methods: An online, cross-sectional questionnaire among HCWs between December 21, 2020 to January 7, 2021. The outcome variables were HCWs' knowledge and awareness of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage that was recently reported as the UK variant of concern, and its associated travel worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) score.
Results: A total of 1,058 HCWs completed the survey; 66.5% were female, 59.0% were nurses. 9.0% indicated they had been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. Regarding the B.1.1.7 lineage, almost all (97.3%) were aware of its emergence, 73.8% were aware that it is more infectious, 78.0% thought it causes more severe disease, and only 50.0% knew that current COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing it. Despite this, 66.7% of HCWs were not registered to receive the vaccine. HCWs' most common source of information about the new variant was social media platforms (67.0%), and this subgroup was significantly more worried about traveling. Nurses were more worried than physicians ( P = 0.001).
Conclusions: Most HCWs were aware of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant and expressed substantial travel worries. Increased worry levels were found among HCWs who used social media as their main source of information, those with lower levels of COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and those with higher GAD-7 scores. The utilization of official social media platforms could improve accurate information dissemination among HCWs regarding the Pandemic's evolving mutations. Targeted vaccine campaigns are warranted to assure HCWs about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines toward SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.19.21250111: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The Institutional Review Board at the College of Medicine and King Saud University Medical City approved the study (approval #20/0065/IRB).
Consent: A waiver for signed consent was obtained since the survey presented no more than a minimal risk to subjects and involved no procedures for which written consent is usually required.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. SPSSsuggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.19.21250111: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: The Institutional Review Board at the College of Medicine and King Saud University Medical City approved the study (approval #20/0065/IRB).
Consent: A waiver for signed consent was obtained since the survey presented no more than a minimal risk to subjects and involved no procedures for which written consent is usually required.Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. SPSSsuggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:4.1 Study limitations and strengths: This study is subject to the limitations of all cross-sectional surveys, including sampling, response, and recall biases. While this work is among the first research projects to explore travel worries among HCWs in light of the travel restrictions caused by new genetic variants in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, their experiences and perceptions are likely to change as the circumstances evolve. Furthermore, HCWs’ perceptions may differ from one country to another. Another potential limitation is that this study was conducted prior to the Saudi MOH reporting on the emergence of the B.1.1.7 variant in Saudi Arabia on January 7, 2021, which might affect HCWs’ perceptions and worry levels. 4.2 Conclusion: Most HCWs were aware of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant and expressed substantial travel worries in relation to it. The level of travel worries was greater among HCWs who used social media as their main source of their information, who had not registered for the COVID-19 vaccine, and who had higher GAD-7 scores. HCWs should abstain from international travel for leisure to decrease risk of introducing new variants to their health care facilities when they return. In addition, public health authorities’ utilization of official social media platforms could improve the dissemination of accurate information among HCWs regarding the virus’s evolving mutations. Targeted vaccine campaigns are warranted to ensure that HCWs are aware of the effic...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
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