COVID-19 vaccine literacy: A scoping review.

To address vaccine hesitancy, specific self-rated tools have been developed to assess vaccine literacy (VL) related to COVID-19, including additional variables, such as beliefs, behavior, and willingness to be vaccinated. To explore the recent literature a search was performed selecting articles published between January 2020 and October 2022: 26 papers were identified using these tools in the context of COVID-19. Descriptive analysis showed that the levels of VL observed in the studies were generally in agreement, with functional VL score often lower than the interactive-critical dimension, as if the latter was stimulated by the COVID-19-related infodemic. Factors associated with VL included vaccination status, age, educational level, and, possibly, gender. Effective communication based on VL when promoting vaccination is critical to sustaining immunization against COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. The VL scales developed to date have shown good consistency. However, further research is needed to improve these tools and develop new ones.

Attitudes and Perceptions of University Students in Healthcare Settings towards Vaccines and Vaccinations Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare students that refuse to get vaccinated may expose themselves and their patients to several vaccine-preventable diseases, especially during outbreaks or at peak epidemic activity, becoming a threat to themselves and their patients. This study aimed to assess their attitudes towards and perception of vaccines and vaccination. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was shared with medical students, pharmacy students and medical residents in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Florence (Italy), in February 2021. The questionnaire contained 39 questions with open, multi-choice, yes-no, Likert scale answers. A Vaccine Hesitancy Index (VHI) was then calculated. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 473 students participated in this study. All students were in favour of vaccination (99.2%) but a relatively low number of participants judged their level of knowledge about vaccinations as "good" (21.8%) or "excellent" (0.6%). About half of students declared that they are not adequately trained during their academic courses. The VHI showed low levels of vaccine hesitancy (mean ± SD 0.38 ± 0.16); moreover, the students were willing to get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 when recommended (88.2%) and thought that these vaccines are generally safe. Few students considered the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines (13.1%) and the procedures for evaluating clinical trials for marketing authorisation of these vaccines (12.9%) too fast to guarantee their efficacy and safety. CONCLUSIONS: Since vaccination and vaccine hesitancy and acceptance topics are being paid increasing attention by the population, new strategies to increase future healthcare professionals' willingness to promote vaccination and get vaccinated, as well as knowledge on vaccines and vaccination, will be of the utmost importance to fight vaccine preventable diseases.

Knowledge of University Students in Health Care Settings on Vaccines and Vaccinations Strategies: Impact Evaluation of a Specific Educational Training Course during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Training future healthcare professionals on vaccination through specific courses is important to properly promote active immunization among the general population and to fight fake news and false beliefs on vaccinations. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of an elective course about vaccinations on the knowledge of medical students, pharmacy students, and medical resident in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine in Italy. METHODS: The participants were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire before and after an elective teaching activity (ETA) on vaccination. The two questionnaires contained the same 30 questions and focused on different aspects of vaccines and vaccination. The students who had attended the seminar were allowed to fulfil the post-lecture questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential analysis were performed on the results; in particular, Student's t-test for independent samples was used to compare the total score obtained before and after attending the ETA. RESULTS: A total of 449 students participated in the ETA. Overall, the participation in the ETA allowed them to significantly improve their final score (+27.28%, p < 0.001). Good results were obtained even when comparing the three groups (medical students, pharmacy students and medical residents) separately. Females improved more than males, especially among pharmacy students. DISCUSSION: The present study highlights the importance and the impact that extracurricular activities can have in improving knowledge about vaccinations. With vaccination and vaccine hesitancy and acceptance topics with increasing attention paid by the population, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is fundamental to develop new strategies to increase future healthcare professionals' knowledge about vaccinations.

Factors Influencing SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy in a Population-Based Sample in Italy.

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 represents an effective and safe tool to protect the population against the disease; however, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy could be a major barrier to achieving herd immunity. Despite the severity of the current pandemic, the population's intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is still not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 among a convenience sample of the general population resident in Italy and the factors associated with hesitancy and acceptance of the vaccine in the context of the current pandemic before the rolling out of COVID-19 vaccines. An anonymous online survey was diffused among a general adult population living in Italy. Participants aged 18 or older and living in Italy were considered eligible. Incomplete questionnaires were excluded. Overall, 7605 valid questionnaires were collected. Most of the participants (81.9%) were inclined to get vaccinated; male sex (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.12-1.71), a high level of trust in institutions (OR 3.93, 95% CI 2.04-7.83), and personal beliefs about high safety of COVID-19 vaccines (OR 56.33, 95% CI 31.57-105.87) were found to be among the significant predictors of COVID-19 acceptance. These data could help design larger studies to address the problem of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the current pandemic.

Fake News and Covid-19 in Italy: Results of a Quantitative Observational Study.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, risk communication has often been ineffective, and from this perspective "fake news" has found fertile ground, both as a cause and a consequence of it. The aim of this study is to measure how much "fake news" and corresponding verified news have circulated in Italy in the period between 31 December 2019 and 30 April 2020, and to estimate the quality of informal and formal communication. We used the BuzzSumo application to gather the most shared links on the Internet related to the pandemic in Italy, using keywords chosen according to the most frequent "fake news" during that period. For each research we noted the numbers of "fake news" articles and science-based news articles, as well as the number of engagements. We reviewed 2102 articles. Links that contained fake news were shared 2,352,585 times, accounting for 23.1% of the total shares of all the articles reviewed. Our study throws light on the "fake news" phenomenon in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A quantitative assessment is fundamental in order to understand the impact of false information and to define political and technical interventions in health communication. Starting from this evaluation, health literacy should be improved by means of specific interventions in order to improve informal and formal communication.