Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1004621
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JULY 2018 www.maltatoday.com.mt NEWS 39 63 58 49 59 73 29 6 14-07-2018 Draw No: 732 FULL TIME SHOWROOM MANAGER Candidate will be responsible for day-to-day retail, customer service and logistics operations. Ideal candidate should have knowledge of boating and automotive systems, and possess basic IT skills. Kindly send your CV to careers@strandmarinemalta.com or contact +356 99209690 Strand Marine & Auto Systems Ltd. Valdor Bldgs, Triq is-Sebh, Qormi, QRM 9055, Malta B A T T E R I E S YANNICK PACE ROUGHLY one in five health- care workers at Mater Dei hospital don't regard the In- fluenza vaccine as beneficial, according to the findings of a research paper published in the Malta Medical School Ga- zette. The study sought to deter- mine the uptake of the vaccine and to initiate the necessary changes needed to increase the number of vaccinated workers, both for their own protection and that of their patients. Healthcare workers run a greater risk of exposure to the Influenza virus, owing to their increased contact with the in- fected patients. The study found that despite efforts to promote vaccina- tion, there was still a relative under-utilisation of the influ- enza vaccine among doctors and nurses. Responses were collected from 130 doctors and nurses through a questionnaire, with nurses receiving a paper ver- sion, while doctors were sent an electronic version. The sur- vey was carried out in 2016, and covers the autumn 2015 period. Respondents included 44 males and 86 females, a ma- jority of whom were aged be- tween 20 and 30. 76 respond- ents were doctors while 54 were nurses. Roughly one-third of re- spondents (33.8%) said they had been vaccinated that sea- son. ≠≠≠Of the 44 respond- ents who said they had been vaccinated, 33 were doctors, representing 43.4% of doctors who responded to the survey. Only 20.3% of nurses who an- swered the survey said they had been vaccinated. In general, the results showed that senior doctors and consultants (44%), as well as junior doctors (54%), were considerably more likely to get vaccinated when compared to middle grade doctors (18%). Fear of side-effects A total of 86 respondents re- ported not having gotten vac- cinated, of which, 44% said they had not done so because of issues related to side effects. In fact, 24% reported not get- ting vaccinated because of a fear of side effects, while a fur- ther 20% said they had a past history of side effects. A further 19% of respond- ents said they had forgotten to get vaccinated, but perhaps the more surprising statistic was that 31.4% did not believe the vaccine was beneficial. This belief was more common among middle grade doctors and nursing staff. In discussing their results, the authors note that the most commonly reported side effect was upper respiratory tract symptoms. "According to the [US] Cen- tre for Disease Control, the in- fluenza vaccine does not cause influenza since the vaccination is made from the inactivated virus," they point out, add- ing, however, that some minor side-effects are known to exist but were limited to low grade fever and pain in the injection site. However, three-quarters of those who reported side- effects as the reason for not getting vaccinated specifically said they had chosen not to do so because of upper respira- tory tract symptoms. "As reported by the CDC, there is no correlation be- tween influenza-like symp- toms and the influenza vac- cine." Among the reasons for work- ers refusing to make use of the vaccine, which is distributed for free, the authors said there were a number of misconcep- tions about the severity of the virus and a lack of knowledge on the benefits. They said that while limited by its relatively small size, the study should serve as a ba- sis for further efforts to en- sure more people working in healthcare are vaccinated. ypace@mediatoday.com.mt Mater Dei workers don't see benefit of influenza vaccine Doctors and nurses don't get vaccinated due to fear of side-effects from inf luenza vaccine or because they don't think it is beneficial The authors said there were a number of misconceptions about the severity of the virus and a lack of knowledge on the benefits