Abstract
Vaccination against novel coronaviruses is now being promoted worldwide, and the third and fourth doses are being administered. However, there are no sufficient data on the extent to which dialysis care workers who are involved in daily dialysis treatment are being vaccinated. We conducted a questionnaire survey of all 74 dialysis facilities in Okinawa Prefecture to determine the vaccination status of medical staff. Of 1746 staff, 1683 (96.4％) had received the second dose, and 1006 (88.3％) of 1139 staff had received the third dose. All staff at 58.1％ of the facilities at the time of the second vaccination and 29.2％ at the time of the third vaccination had received the novel coronavirus vaccine. Reasons for not vaccinating were surveyed in a questionnaire at the time of the third vaccination. The most common reason given was fear of adverse reactions (33 cases), followed by the belief that the vaccine was ineffective (insufficient evidence) (26 cases), being stopped by friends or family members (7 cases), allergic disposition (adverse reactions to medication or other vaccination) (5 cases), and adverse reactions to previous vaccination with the novel coronavirus vaccine (4 cases). We believe that vaccination against novel coronaviruses should be promoted more aggressively to increase patient safety and ensure the continuation of medical care.
