Influenza vaccine uptake and attitudes of healthcare workers in Ireland.

Influenza vaccination uptake by Irish healthcare workers remains sub-optimal despite local initiatives to increase it. To investigate hospital workers attitudes to influenza vaccination and how this influenced their decisions about vaccination. A questionnaire survey of Irish hospital workers, measuring uptake of and attitudes to influenza vaccination. There were 747 responders, of whom 361 (48%) reported having received influenza vaccination. Attitudes predicting vaccination uptake included a belief that vaccination would protect family members (P 0.0005, CI 1.191-1.739), a perception of susceptibility to flu (P 0.0005, CI 1.182-1.685), a belief that all healthcare workers should be vaccinated (P 0.005, CI 1.153-1.783), perceived ease of getting flu vaccination at work (P 0.0005, CI 1.851-2.842) and encouragement by line managers (P 0.05, CI 1.018-1.400). Attitudes negatively associated with vaccination uptake included fear of needles (P 0.05, CI 0.663-0.985) and a belief that vaccination would cause illness (P 0.0005, CI 0.436-0.647). Medical staff were significantly more likely to be vaccinated. Healthcare students were least likely to be vaccinated (P 0.0005). Addressing specific barriers to influenza vaccination in healthcare workers may improve uptake.