Fear of COVID-19 among employees of large companies and vaccination against COVID-19 - a cross-sectional study (Silesia, Poland)

Grajek, Mateusz, Krupa-Kotara, Karolina, Sobczyk, Karolina. Fear of COVID-19 among employees of large companies and vaccination against COVID-19 - a cross-sectional study (Silesia, Poland). Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2022;12(9):677-684. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2022.12.09.080 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/39837 https://zenodo.org/record/7066630 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2022; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 21.08.2022. Revised: 02.09.2022. Accepted: 10.09.2022. Fear of COVID-19 among employees of large companies and vaccination against COVID-19 - a cross-sectional study (Silesia, Poland) Mateusz Grajek1, Karolina Krupa-Kotara2, Karolina Sobczyk3 1Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska 18, 41902 Bytom, Poland 2Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska 18, 41902 Bytom, Poland 3Department of Health Economics and Health Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska 18, 41902 Bytom, Poland *Mateusz Grajek mgrajek@sum.edu.pl Piekarska 18 41-902 Bytom Abstract Introduction and Objective. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the functioning of the entire globe. By the end of December 2020, the disease had been diagnosed in more than 82 million people worldwide, and nearly 2 million people had died. The main preventive measure was to develop an effective vaccine as soon as possible, which Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Gamaleya Center managed to do in late 2020. The first vaccines arrived in Poland after the end of December 2020, but their appearance was not without controversy. The aim of this study was to compare respondents' opinions on COVID-19 vaccination with the results of the assessment of fear of infection. Material and methods. The opinions of 300 employees of large companies on COVID-19 vaccination and fear of SARS-CoV-2 (FCV-19S) infection according to Ahorsu were checked. Results. It was shown that 54% of the respondents express a willingness to vaccinate whenever possible, while 42% are not interested in vaccinating. In favor of the willingness to vaccinate is the option to return to the standard of living before the COVID-19 pandemic - 72%, and the desire to protect those around them from possible infection - 46%. Among opponents of vaccination, the predominant opinion is that the vaccine has not undergone enough testing and is not safe for health - 68%. Discussion. COVID-19 vaccination is one of the major medical successes of recent years and a safe way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is worrying that those who opt out of vaccination indicate that they do not have enough information about vaccination (44%), and this is an issue that needs to be changed quickly. Conclusions. Those who express a willingness to vaccinate are more likely to have a higher level of fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection than those who have not expressed a willingness to vaccinate. Nearly half of non-vaccinators indicate that there is too little information about vaccination. Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; immunization; prevention; fear of infection