Healthcare professional and professional stakeholders’ perspectives on vaccine mandates in Switzerland: A mixed-methods study

•Swiss healthcare professionals are generally opposed to vaccine mandates.•Swiss federal health authorities have clearly stated that vaccination is voluntary.•Swiss healthcare professionals expressed concerns about COVID-19 vaccine mandates.•Consequences of vaccine mandates for HCPs are currently unclear in Switzerland.•Vaccination policy in Switzerland should be clarified for healthcare professionals. There currently are no mandatory vaccines in Switzerland. However, Swiss federal legislation allows for vaccination mandates in settings where the risk of transmission to vulnerable groups is high, such as healthcare professionals (HCPs) working with vulnerable patients. Since HCPs are trusted information sources, a priority population for COVID-19 vaccination, and potentially subjected to mandates, we investigated HCP perspectives on mandates. A national online survey was administered to HCPs (October 2020-March 2021), including vaccine mandates questions concerning patients (measles) and HCPs (influenza). We qualitatively investigated HCP mandate perspectives through: (1) 34 interviews with HCPs, HCP professional society representatives, and health authorities; (2) a focus group discussion (FGD) with complementary medicine (CM) and biomedical physicians, and Swiss Federal Vaccination Commission members. 1933 participants (496 physicians, 226 pharmacists, 607 nurses, 604 midwives) responded to the survey. Quantitative results show all professional groups preferred shared parent-HCP measles vaccine decisions (65%, 54%, 50%, 48%, respectively; p for trend