Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Setting and Participants
2.2. Questionnaire
- Declare if they were favorable to vaccinations in general (yes/no);
- Report if they had been immunized against the influenza virus in the season 2019/20 (yes/no);
- Report if they had been immunized against the influenza virus in the season 2020/21 (yes/no);
- Refer if COVID-19 vaccines may cause health problems (yes/no);
- Report if they had received at least a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (yes/no);
- Refer, if not yet vaccinated, if they were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (yes/no);
- Refer, if not yet vaccinated, if they were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with any formulation (yes/no);
- Refer, if not willing to be vaccinated, the main motivation (I don’t trust vaccines/these vaccines are not effective/I’m allergic/I’ve had the disease/I’m not at risk/the available vaccines may cause severe health consequences);
- Refer if, in their opinion, the COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory (yes/no);
- Refer if they were favorable to the adoption of the “green pass” (yes/no);
- Report their main source of information about COVID-19 vaccination (health care personnel, scientists/mass media/social media).
2.3. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
- -
- The percentage of individuals vaccinated/willing to be vaccinated changed from 96% to 87.9% (p value < 0.001);
- -
- The proportion of respondents who were favorable to vaccinations in general changed from 51.9% to 35.2% (p value < 0.001);
- -
- The percentage of those who thought that COVID-19 vaccines may cause health problems changed from 80.7% to 96.4% (p value < 0.001);
- -
- The percentage of participants who thought that COVID-19 vaccination should be compulsory changed from 64.9% to 16.9% (p value < 0.001);
- -
- The percentage of those who were favorable to the green pass changed from 44.9 to 16.2% (p value < 0.001).
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Item | n (%) |
---|---|
Vaccinated against COVID-19 | |
Yes | 901 (86.6) |
No | 140 (13.4) |
If not vaccinated, willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 | |
Yes | 64 (45.7) |
No | 76 (54.3) |
If not vaccinated, willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with any | |
formulation | |
Yes | 0 (0) |
No | 140 (100) |
If neither vaccinated nor willing to be, main motivation for refusal: | |
I don’t trust vaccines | 3 (3.9) |
The available vaccines are not effective | 48 (63.2) |
I’m allergic | 0 (0) |
I’ve had the disease | 15 (19.7) |
I’m not at risk | 1 (1.3) |
The available vaccines may cause severe health consequences | 9 (11.8) |
Item | Participants n = 1041 | Vaccinated/Willing to Be Vaccinated n (%) | p Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | |||
Gender | 0.024 | |||
males | 434 (41.7) | 393 (90.6) | 41 (9.4) | |
females | 607 (58.3) | 572 (94.2) | 35 (5.8) | |
Age | <0.001 | |||
≤76 years | 553 (53.1) | 487 (88.1) | 66 (11.9) | |
≥77 years | 488 (46.9) | 47 8 (98) | 10 (2) | |
Educational level | <0.001 | |||
Elementary | 28 (2.7) | 26 (92.9) | 2 (7.1) | |
Middle | 310 (29.8) | 277 (89.4) | 33 (10.6) | |
High school | 515 (49.5) | 496 (96.3) | 19 (3.7) | |
Degree | 188 (18.1) | 166 (88.3) | 22 (11.7) |
Item | Respondents n (%) | Vaccinated/Willing to Be Vaccinated n (%) | p Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | |||
Favorable to vaccination in general | <0.001 | |||
Yes | 470 (45.1) | 460 (97.9) | 10 (2.1) | |
No | 571 (54.9) | 505 (88.4) | 66 (11.6) | |
Vaccinated against influenza (season 2019/20) | 0.004 | |||
Yes | 269 (25.8) | 260 (96.7) | 9 (3.3) | |
No | 772 (74.2) | 705 (91.3) | 67 (8.7) | |
Vaccinated against influenza (season 2020/21) | <0.001 | |||
Yes | 768 (73.8) | 726 (94.5) | 42 (5.5) | |
No | 273 (26.2) | 239 (87.5) | 34 (12.5) | |
Might the COVID-19 vaccines cause health problems? | 0.015 | |||
Yes | 906 (87) | 833 (91.9) | 73 (8.1) | |
No | 135 (13) | 132 (97.8) | 3 (2.2) | |
Might all the COVID-19 vaccines have the same side effects? | 0.001 | |||
Yes | 188 (18.1) | 185 (98.4) | 3 (1.6) | |
No | 853 (81.9) | 780 (91.4) | 73 (8.6) | |
Should COVID-19 vaccination become mandatory? | 0.388 | |||
Yes | 474 (45.5) | 443 (93.5) | 31 (6.5) | |
No | 567 (54.5) | 522 (92.1) | 45 (7.9) | |
Favorable to the adoption of the “green pass” | 0.4 | |||
Yes | 347 (33.3) | 325 (93.7) | 22 (6.3) | |
No | 694 (66.7) | 640 (92.2) | 54 (7.8) | |
Main sources of information about COVID-19 | 0.009 | |||
vaccination | ||||
Healthcare personnel, scientists | 636 (61.1) | 577 (90.7) | 59 (9.3) | |
Mass media (i.e., television, magazines) | 402 (38.6) | 385 (95.8) | 17 (4.2) | |
Social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp) | 3 (0.3) | 3 (100) | 0 (0) |
Independent Variable | Vaccine Acceptance |
---|---|
OR (CI 95%) | |
Educational level | |
Elementary/middle | Reference |
High school/degree | 1.875 (1.113–3.161) * |
Source of information | |
Health care personnel, scientists | Reference |
Mass media/social media | 2.415 (1.358–4.296) ** |
Date of fulfilling the questionnaire | |
Before the mandatory adoption of green pass | Reference |
After the mandatory adoption of green pass | 0.218 (0.129–0.369) ** |
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Gallè, F.; Sabella, E.A.; Roma, P.; Da Molin, G.; Diella, G.; Montagna, M.T.; Ferracuti, S.; Liguori, G.; Orsi, G.B.; Napoli, C. Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy. Vaccines 2021, 9, 1222. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111222
Gallè F, Sabella EA, Roma P, Da Molin G, Diella G, Montagna MT, Ferracuti S, Liguori G, Orsi GB, Napoli C. Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy. Vaccines. 2021; 9(11):1222. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111222
Chicago/Turabian StyleGallè, Francesca, Elita Anna Sabella, Paolo Roma, Giovanna Da Molin, Giusy Diella, Maria Teresa Montagna, Stefano Ferracuti, Giorgio Liguori, Giovanni Battista Orsi, and Christian Napoli. 2021. "Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy" Vaccines 9, no. 11: 1222. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111222