COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance and Hesitancy in Dialysis Staff: First Results From New York City

Abstract

To the Editor: Broad adoption of vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is key to successfully fighting the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). When fallen ill with COVID-19, in-center hemodialysis patients are at particularly high risk for morbidity and mortality. Therefore, attaining high vaccination rates in both dialysis patients and staff is of utmost importance. The New York State Department of Health COVID-19 vaccination plan calls for a phased distribution of the vaccine (https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/phaseddistribution-vaccine). In accordance with that plan, all outpatient/ambulatory front-line, high-risk health care workers of any age who provide direct in-person patient care are eligible for vaccination; this definition includes dialysis staff. Here we report dialysis staff vaccination acceptance and hesitancy rates from 4 Renal Research Institute dialysis clinics and a home dialysis program located in New York, New York. Inoculation of the first dose was done between 13 and 21 January 2021. The staff count was 157, including full-time and part-time employees, temporary workers, and per diem staff. Staff who were pregnant or breast feeding, were on leave of absence, had contracted COVID-19 less than 90 days ago, or explicitly expressed vaccination hesitancy were not offered inoculation. Staff with a history of confirmed COVID-