The question was posed by a nurse before an auditorium full of health workers at the Congress of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology: “If we recommend our patients get vaccinated, why don’t we do it?” Health professionals do not lead by example. Less than half (43.76%) were immunized against the flu in the last campaign. The percentage is not even close to the 75% set by the World Health Organization and, far from improving, it is getting worse. The ‘pandemic effect’ gave a boost to the vaccination of professionals and the numbers reached never-before-seen thresholds – more than 65% in 2020 – but since then the curve has headed into a decline that has now lasted three years.
The matter worries health authorities. The Community of Madrid has started an awareness campaign this week – “in the face of flu, lend a hand” – and the annual meeting of vaccinologists, held two weeks ago in Malaga, spoke openly about the problem in a presentation called ‘Vaccination of health personnel, what can be done to ensure that it is taken seriously?’. “It’s like traveling in a car without a seat belt: our safety and that of our patients is at risk,” responded nurse Patricia Martín Díaz, occupational nursing specialist in the East Health Management Area of Málaga-Axarquía.
There are communities, such as the Balearic Islands, with insignificant vaccination figures among their professionals. Only 15% of them are immunized. Neither Catalunya (25.36%) nor Murcia (33.23%) fare well. The Valencian Community is the only one that achieves the objective set by the WHO. It even surpasses it with 77.15% coverage among healthcare workers in the last campaign, according to official data from the Ministry of Health.
“They hide when we arrive at the services,” shared Mónica Devolx Solano, a specialist in occupational medicine at the Regional University Hospital of Málaga. And face to face, the teams find all kinds of excuses when they go to look for their colleagues to inform them about the campaigns. “We have – listed Martín Díaz – hyperimmune people who never get sick […] and those who say that they have to continue operating or that they have a guard.” In the end, the speakers concluded, health personnel who are vaccinated think more about their family environment than about their consultations. “The vast majority affirm that because they have fathers, mothers or someone sick at home, the last thing they tell you is that for the patients,” said Devolx.
Furthermore, professionals are not safe from the groundswell of distrust in vaccines, maintains the nursing specialist at work. “Everything that has to do with vaccination has been manipulated: everyone is a pope (in an ironic sense, which has great influence on his professional activity) in vaccines and we trust more in what a colleague can tell us than in scientific studies.”
But low adherence is not only the fault of professionals: there is little talk in faculties about the “medication that has saved the most lives in humanity” and there is not always accessibility in health centers. “We cannot miss any opportunity and one of the reasons is lack of time. That is why vaccines should be offered without schedules, without an appointment, without delay,” according to Martín Díaz.
Personal “discontent” is also not in favor of joining the campaign, the speakers admitted. “Month-to-month contracts, instability and demotivation generate a negative feeling towards their job and influence the vaccination decision.” So how can it be improved? With small incentives such as “invite a breakfast to the service that had more immunized people.” This next campaign will confirm whether the loss of adhesion continues for another year or is reversed.
Graphics by Victòria Oliveres.
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