Perception of the COVID-19 vaccination process in Peruvian dental professionals: A logistic regression analysis

Abstract

Aim: Because of the situation regarding COVID-19, dentists are constantly exposed to being infected with the coronavirus, since they have direct contact with the patient. Therefore, agreeing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 seems to be a promising solution to reduce the risk of death in these professionals. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the perception of the vaccination process against COVID-19 in Peruvian dental professionals. Materials and Methods: An analytical, observational, and cross-sectional study was conducted in 360 Peruvian dentists between June and August 2021. An instrument that measured the perception of the COVID-19 vaccination process was developed and validated. A crude and adjusted logit model was used to assess the association of the following variables: age (X1), gender (X2), marital status (X3), number of children (X4), place of origin (X5), occupation (X6), years of experience (X7), academic degree (X8), specialization (X9), vulnerability (X10), COVID-19 history (X11), origin of vaccine (X12), dose received (X13), and professional association location (X14), with the perception of dentists toward the COVID-19 vaccination process, considering a P value 0. 05. Results: Of the 360 Peruvian dentists surveyed, the prevalence of poor perception was 53.61% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 48.45%-58.75%). Of the variables analyzed, the only one that proved to have a significant influence on the development of poor perception, according to the logistic regression analysis (logit model), was the location of the professional association, with an odds ratio (OR = 0.37, CI = 0.22-0.62), whereas Sinopharm vaccine (OR = 1.70, CI = 0.35-8.25) or Pfizer/BioNTech (OR = 2.31, CI = 0.45-11.88) and the other variables were not considered as influential factors in the development of poor perception toward the COVID-19 vaccination process (P > 0.05). Conclusions: More than half of the Peruvian dentists surveyed had a poor perception of the COVID-19 vaccination process. However, those whose professional association was located in the capital city were 63% less likely to have a poor perception than those dentists from the provinces. In addition, the origin of the vaccine and other variables such as age, gender, marital status, number of children, origin, occupation, years of experience, academic degree, specialization, vulnerability, history of COVID-19 and dose received were not considered influential factors for developing poor perception.