Virologie: Aktuelle Forschung

Coronavirus Vaccine Hesitancy among Patients Attending Rheumatology Clinic in North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust: An Observational Pilot Study

Abstract

John Pradeep, Vera Saulite, Poonam Sharma, Fiona Maxton, Helen Bowyer, Debbie Carmichael and Jufen Zhang

Background: Since the start of an unprecedented vaccination campaign against Covid-19 the authors have started to come across rheumatology patients who were reluctant to have vaccination. Due to the diversity of the local population it was hypothesized that certain socio economic characteristics were predictive of vaccine hesitancy. The aim of this study was to assess the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among patients attending rheumatology clinics in a large District General Hospital (DGH) in the East of England, as well as to establish perceived barriers in receiving COVID-19 vaccine and to assess the extent of vaccine hesitancy among the target population.

Methods: This single center cross-sectional observational pilot study was conducted using questionnaires distributed to patients attending rheumatology outpatients for a face to face appointment. Data were collected on baseline social and demographic characteristics as well as knowledge, attitude and behaviors regarding coronavirus vaccination. We collected 395 anonymous responses and then analyzed those using descriptive statistical methods. Logistic regression models were performed to assess the associations between outcomes and demographic related variables. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit tests was used to evaluate the model fit.

Results: There was a very high COVID-19 vaccine uptake among the sampled population (96.71%), notably higher than among the general population (90.4%) at the time of the study. In our study, the older population had a higher vaccine uptake (P<0.001). White British ethnicity was a good predictor of vaccine uptake. There was no demonstrable link between educational attainment or monthly income and vaccine uptake. Older study participants tended to believe that the vaccine was safe to have whilst taking immunosuppressive medications.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated excellent uptake of COVID-19 vaccine in our local population attending rheumatology clinics. Being older and having white British ethnicity were strong predictors of vaccine uptake.