Pesquisa imunológica
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COVID-19: Comparison of Vaccination Coverage between Oral Health Care Practitioners and Other Health Care Personnel in Yaounde

Jacqueline Michèle Lowe, Marie Elvire Nokam*, Eric Nseme, Esther Voundi Voundi, Elisabeth Songue, Junior Voundi Voundi, Joseph Kamgno

Introduction: COVID-19 is a global pandemic for which vaccination coverage is still low in our environment. Health care workers and particularly those in the oral sphere are at high risk of contracting it.

General objective: To evaluate the COVID-19 vaccination coverage among oral health care workers in comparison with other health care workers in Yaounde.

Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 360 individuals in three hospitals in Yaounde, from February to April 2022, i.e., 3 months. All health personnel who gave their free consent consecutively were included. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 software with a statistical significance level of p<0.05.

Results: The coverage rate of the COVID-19 vaccine was 34.2%. The rates of vaccination against COVID-19 were 43.3% and 32.2% in oral sphere practitioners and others respectively (p=0.135). There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of vaccine received, adverse events and post-vaccination infection rate against SARS- CoV-2 between our two groups (p≥0.05).

Conclusion: A similar distribution was found between oral health professionals and other health personnel in terms of vaccination rate, type of vaccine received, and post-vaccination adverse events against SARS-CoV-2. Education seems to be a priority action to target the most at-risk populations.