Background and importance When there were still some doubts in the population about the efficacy and safety of the approved vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, healthcare professionals were among the first to be vaccinated in our country.

Aim and objectives To analyse the level of knowledge and motivation in hospital staff for getting vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 with the administered COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Material and methods Descriptive, observational and retrospective study. All hospital staff vaccinated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and who had signed the informed consent for data collection were included. Through telephone interview, sociodemographic data (sex, age) were collected and also questions about: (1) motivation for getting vaccinated; (2) previous knowledge about the possible AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunisation); (3) technical information (TI) about the vaccine prior to first dose, to second dose and after the second one; (4) anxiety/fear/worry about being vaccinated; (5) probability of being vaccinated again, if necessary and (6) if medication was taken to alleviate symptoms. The level of agreement or disagreement with the question made was considered using a Likert scale. Related qualitative variables were analysed using the Chi-square technique. p<0.05 was established as statistically significant.

Results About 108 (88.5%) hospital staff were vaccinated. About 66 (61.1%) workers (81.8% women) with a mean ages of 42.7±10.7 years completed the interview and were included in the study. About 65 (98.5%) belonged to the 18–65 years age group.

About 40 (60.6%) workers took medication for alleviate symptoms. Correlations were significant between (1) level of knowledge about AEFI and level of motivation for getting vaccinated, (2) level of TI and taking medication to alleviate symptoms and (3) level of motivation and probability of being vaccinated again if necessary. It seems that (1) more knowledge about AEFI means to be more motivated to be vaccinated (p= 0.037) and (2) more level of TI means to have more desire to get vaccinated again, if necessary (p=0.001) and also less use of drugs to relieve symptoms (p=0.027).

Conclusion and relevance Nearly 90% of our hospital staff were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Knowledge about the AEFI determined the motivation for getting vaccinated. Besides, the level of the staff’s motivation determined less consumption of medication to alleviate symptoms, as well as a greater trend to receive a new vaccine dose, if necessary.

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest