KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF HEALTH-CARE WORKERS ABOUT INFLUENZA - WHY ARE THEY NOT GETTING VACCINATED

In a survey of employees at a chronic care psychiatric facility follow ing an influenza outbreak, previous influenza vaccination (relative ri sk [RR], 69.7; 95% confidence interval [CI95], 25.2 to 192.4), age gre ater than or equal to 50 years (RR, 2.4; CI95, 1.3 to 4.5), and knowle dge that vaccine does not cause influenza (RR 2.3; CI95, 1.3 to 3.7) w ere the factors most predictive of current influenza vaccination. Medi cal personnel were less likely than nonmedical employees to be vaccina ted (RR, 0.5; CI95, 0.3 to 0.9). Educational efforts to address miscon cep- tions about vaccination plus more vigorous administrative measure s to vaccinate employees should be considered.