Background: Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major public health concern in South Africa. Hepatitis B virus is a highly infectious blood-borne virus causing liver disease. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of occupational exposure.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate HBV vaccination amongst HCWs at a tertiary academic hospital in Gauteng province, South Africa.
Method: Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 500 consecutively sampled HCWs. Data were analysed using Stata version 12.
Results: A total of 460 HCWs participated in the study. Most were women (68.7%), < 40 years of age (66.9%) and worked for < 10 years (66.0%). Almost 50.0% were either doctors or medical students and 40.3% were nurses or student nurses. Most HCWs in the age group of < 30 years (79.4%) had received at least 1 dose of HB vaccine. Prevaccination immunity screening was conducted on 17.5% of the HCWs, and only 11.0% reported to be protected against HBV. About 49.0% of HCWs were fully vaccinated. Post-vaccination immunity testing was conducted on 15.1%, and 24.0% of HCWs paid for vaccinations. Nursing staff and those with > 10 years of work experience were 2.5 and 2.6 times more likely to be vaccinated, respectively. Cleaning staff were less likely to be vaccinated.
Conclusion: Although not all HCWs were fully vaccinated, our study found a higher proportion of fully vaccinated HCWs than previously reported in Gauteng Province. It is recommended that HB vaccination be promoted and a local vaccination policy, aligned with the national policy, be developed and implemented for all HCWs at the tertiary academic hospital.
Keywords: healthcare workers; hepatitis B vaccination policy; hepatitis B virus infection; pre-vaccination immunity screening; vaccination coverage.
© 2022. The Authors.