Mandatory meningococcal vaccine, and other recommended immunisations: Uptake, barriers, and facilitators among health care workers and trainees at Hajj

Badahdah, Al-Mamoon; Alfelali, Mohammad; Alqahtani, Amani S; Alsharif, Saeed; Barasheed, Osamah; Rashid, Harunor

Unvaccinated personnel who have contact with patients put themselves, their colleagues and patients at risk of preventable diseases. Coexistence of Hajj setting as well as excessive workload environment may double these risks. For instance, Al-Asmary et al [31] found that a quarter of HCW in Hajj medical admission developed acute respiratory infections, contact with pilgrims was a significant risk factor for acquisition of this infection. Thus, ensuring vaccination of HCWs at Hajj is very important to protect themselves and their patients. These include mandatory meningococcal vaccine, and highly recommended influenza vaccine; both are funded for HCWs who care for Hajj pilgrims. Yet, the uptake of these vaccines among HCWs at Hajj has been suboptimal [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] , there is no data on pneumococcal vaccine uptake among HCWs at Hajj. In previous reports non-availability of vaccine and lack of time were key barriers to vaccination among HCWs at Hajj [34, 35] , however the latest data are not known, and no data on facilitators of vaccination.