Sajjad Khan
After completing MBBS/MD in Pakistan in 2013-14, I went on to conduct one-year medical training to get a license to practice medicine in my country. My experience as a doctor and a medical student in a low-resource setting with a high disease burden motivated me to pursue a career in public health. I was fortunate enough to get a Fulbright scholarship at the right time. This enabled me to pursue MPH in Global Health at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) at the University of Arizona in Fall 2015. As a member of student-led organizations, we were able to organize several events on themes such as climate change, global warming & public health, social determinants of health, mass incarceration, racism, & public health. After completing my MPH in May 2017, I returned to Pakistan. In July 2017, I started working with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. I was able to utilize my core epidemiological, biostatistics, & public health analytical skills during my tenure with WHO. These skills proved beneficial in improving the sensitivity of the infectious diseases surveillance system in my area of responsibility. I also had the opportunity to work with the leading experts on outbreak investigation and response and was able to improve my epidemiological analysis skills. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I shifted to work with the WHO in COVID-19 response in Peshawar, Pakistan till Aug 2021. In Fall 2021, I started my Ph.D. in Environmental Health at Indiana University Bloomington.
COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance & Hesitancy among Health Care Workers (HCWs) In Two Major Urban Centers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Background: Vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers (HCWs) is a major factor in determining the success of a vaccination program. Any distrust among HCWs creates a barrier to successful vaccination rates for the rest of the community.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate vaccine hesitancy and acceptance among HCWs in two Urban districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Methods: A standardized questionnaire was used to obtain data using non-probability convenience sampling. 248 participants were divided into two categories: "Vaccine Acceptance" and "Vaccine Hesitancy”. The chi-square test was used to confirm a relationship between the two sets of data after stratification. P-Value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Of the 248 participants, 58% belonged to teaching hospitals with the majority being Medical Doctors. The chi-square test showed a significant association between an age greater than 40 (p-value:0.038), being female and not pregnant (p-value:0.018), and HCWs from non-teaching hospitals (0.043) with vaccine-acceptance. Conversely, being female (p-value:0.007), HCWs from teaching hospitals (p-value:0.035), and non-doctor cadre (p-value:< 0.018) demonstrated a significant association with vaccine-hesitancy.
Conclusions: We recommend that the Health Department of the province focus on Risk Communication and Community Engagement regarding the importance of COVID-19 vaccination to address vaccine-hesitancy for health care workers especially the non-doctors cadres. The provinces need to focus on healthcare workers to improve vaccine acceptance in the communities as people have more trust in the healthcare providers.
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