Year: 2026 | Month: May | Volume: 16 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 9-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20260502
Vaccination Practices Regarding Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Among Healthcare Workers of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Kashmir: A Cross-Sectional Study
Basina Gulzar1, Syed Najmul Ain2
1Department of Community Medicine SKIMS Soura Kashmir, 2Department of Community Medicine,
GMC Handwara, Kashmir, India
Corresponding Author: Dr. Syed Najmul Ain
ABSTRACT
Background: Influenza is one of the significant threats in today’s world and vaccination is the main effective tool for its prevention.
Objective: To assess the vaccination practices regarding seasonal influenza vaccine among healthcare personnel of a tertiary care hospital and to assess the factors associated with these vaccination practices.
Methodology: It was a cross-sectional hospital-based study with healthcare personnel being the study subjects. Sample size was calculated and a sample of 450 was targeted. Sampling technique was PPS for taking sample from different categories of workers followed by systematic sampling. Information was collected by using a predesigned, structured and validated questionnaire. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 23.
Results: Among the 450 healthcare personnel, 215 (47.8%) were 31-40 years old with female preponderance (N=274, 60.8%). A total of 413(91.8%) participants had taken the last seasonal influenza vaccine. The main reasons for vaccine acceptance were: for self-protection (95.8%), for protection of family members (59.8%), and being available free of cost (52%). Main reasons for non-acceptance were: “people get flu despite vaccination” (97.2%), “vaccine makes you sick” (48.6%) and “not knowing about it” (18.9%).
Conclusion: Vaccination uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine was high in our study. Since there is some vaccine hesitancy in the healthcare workers, regular awareness programs and trainings need to be given to healthcare workers to build vaccination confidence. Besides healthcare workers also need to be made aware that the vaccine is available free of cost to all healthcare workers wherever it is.
Key words: Vaccines, Influenza, Health Personnel, Vaccination Hesitancy, Awareness