Role of Occupational Health Services in Planning and Implementing of Staff COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic: A Tertiary Hospital Experience in Singapore

See Ming Lim (), Hwang Ching Chan, Amelia Santosa, Swee Chye Quek, Eugene Hern Choon Liu and Jyoti Somani
Additional contact information
See Ming Lim: Occupational Health Clinic, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Hwang Ching Chan: Epidemiology Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Amelia Santosa: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Swee Chye Quek: Chairman Medical Board’s Office, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Eugene Hern Choon Liu: Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Jyoti Somani: Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-10

Abstract: Context: Healthcare workers all over the world were prioritized for vaccination against COVID-19 in view of the high-risk nature of their job scopes when vaccines were first available in late 2020. Vaccine hesitancy was an important problem to tackle in order to achieve a high vaccination rate, especially for vaccines that were developed using mRNA technology. We aimed to use the ‘3Cs’ model to address vaccine hesitancy to ensure maximal uptake of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine among healthcare workers in a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Methods: Various measures were used to reduce the confidence, complacency, and convenience barriers. The staff vaccination clinic was on-site and centralized, with appointments given in advance to ensure vaccine availability and to reduce wait time, providing convenience to staff. Direct and repeated communications with the staff via multiple channels were used to address vaccine safety and efficacy so as to promote confidence in the vaccines and overcome complacency barriers. To further encourage staff to get vaccinated, staff were allowed time off for vaccination when at work. Staff with a high risk of exposure to COVID-19 or those caring for immunocompromised patients were prioritized to take the vaccines first. The collection of data on adverse events was via on-site monitoring and consultation at Occupational Health Clinic (OHC). Results: Nearly 80% of staff had completed vaccination when the vaccination exercise ended at the end of March 2021. With the loosening of the contraindications to vaccination over time, staff vaccination rates reached 89.3% in early July and nearly 99.9% by the end of the year. No major or serious vaccine-related medication or administration errors were reported. No staff had anaphylaxis. Conclusions: By using the ‘3Cs’ model to plan out the vaccination exercise, it is possible to achieve a high vaccination rate coupled with effective and customized communications. This multi-disciplinary team approach can be adapted to guide vaccination efforts in various settings in future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; occupational health in hospital; vaccine hesitancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14217/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14217/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14217-:d:958515

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().