A Qualitative Study Regarding Messages of the COVID-19 Vaccine from Vaccinated Healthcare Providers and Healthy Adults

1.BackgroundTo promote the vaccination against COVID-19, person-to-person communication from vaccinated people will play an important role. The objectives of this study are to identify what messages were shared by vaccinated people, and the relationship between these messages and their background. MethodsThis study was an exploratory and prospective basis with individual interviews. The participants were healthcare providers and healthy adults who were recruited at a vaccination site in Chuo-City, Tokyo. The online interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview. Based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), the participants were asked about their perspectives on vaccines and what they talked about after their vaccination. The interviews were categorized into each item of the HBM and analyzed using NVivo software. ResultsDuring August to October 2021, five healthcare providers and seven healthy adults were enrolled in the study. One healthy adult could not be contacted resulting in a total of 11 participants interviewed. Both the healthcare providers and the healthy adults mainly talked about side effects after their vaccination, and to ease the other persons concerns based on their experience. Meanwhile, there were differences in the recommendations for vaccination between the two groups. The healthcare providers were strongly aware of the severity of COVID-19 infection and recommended vaccination to others as a useful measure to suppress becoming severely ill. On the other hand, the healthy adults recommended the vaccine with varying degree depending on their expectations and concerns about the vaccine and external factors such as living with a family member. ConclusionBoth the healthcare providers and healthy adults shared similar messages to ease the vaccination concerns of others. However, their vaccine recommendation level was varied, which may be influenced not only by expectations and concerns toward the vaccine, but also by external factors such as family members living together.