ABSTRACT
Background. COVID-19 vaccine uptake remains suboptimal. This project aimed to identify and mitigate reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Baseline patient knowledge and attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination Methods. Between 9/2021 and 1/2022, 16 live in-person and/or virtual patient education programs were held in community centers/clinics in NC and GA. Surveys were administered before/after each session, and longitudinal outcomes 3 weeks later. Results. Surveys were conducted amongst the 1381 participating patients. 64% were already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 19% had received 1 of 2 doses, and 17% were either unvaccinated (14%) or unsure of their status (3%). Baseline vaccine knowledge was higher among fully vaccinated patients, with patient attitudes varied per vaccination status (Figure). Patients not planning to get vaccinated cited concern for long-term (21%) and short-term (18%) side effects, thinking the vaccines were developed too quickly (16%), not feeling the vaccine would protect them (10%), and not feeling at risk for serious illness (10%). When asked what they thought would increase patient interest in vaccination, providers (n = 28) identified a strong recommendation (39%) or more information (36%) from a patient's own doctor, while patients prioritized transportation (28%) , vaccine availability in their doctor's office (23%), and information from their doctor (23%). Provider confidence in counseling patients improved after the program;more providers felt confident discussing vaccine safety (69%) and efficacy (69%) after the program than at baseline (33% and 41%, respectively). More patients felt confident sharing COVID-19 vaccine information with family and friends after the program (73%) than before (53%). Gains in patient views about COVID-19 vaccination were greatest among those who were unvaccinated/unsure;among this group, more patients agreed that vaccines are safe (72%), effective (76%), and important (78%) after the education, compared to 42%, 46%, and 52% at baseline, respectively. In the longitudinal patient follow-up survey 86% of unvaccinated patients got vaccinated after completing the education session. Conclusion. Patient knowledge and attitudes varied based on vaccine experience, as did patient and provider perceptions about improving vaccine acceptance. Vaccine uptake was high following the program.
ABSTRACT
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a prospective population-based cohort which recruited pregnant women in 1990-1992 and has followed these women, their partners (Generation 0;G0) and their offspring (Generation 1;G1) ever since. The study reacted rapidly and repeatedly to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, deploying multiple online questionnaires and a previous home-based antibody test in October 2020. A second antibody test, in collaboration with ten other longitudinal population studies, was completed by 4,622 ALSPAC participants between April and June 2021. Of participants with a valid spike protein antibody test result (4,241;8.2% void), indicating antibody response to either COVID-19 vaccination or natural infection, 3,172 were positive (74.8%). Generational differences were substantial, with 2,463/2,555 G0 participants classified positive (96.4%) compared to 709/1,686 G1 participants (42.1%). Of participants with a valid nucleocapsid antibody test result (4,199;9.2% void), suggesting potential and recent natural infection, 493 were positive (11.7%);with 248/2,526 G0 participants (9.8%) and 245/1,673 G1 participants (14.6%) testing positive, respectively. We also compare results for this round of testing to that undertaken in October 2020. Future work will combine these test results with additional sources of data to identify participants' COVID-19 infection and vaccination status. These ALSPAC COVID-19 serology data are being complemented with linkage to health records and Public Health England pillar testing results as they become available, in addition to four previous questionnaire waves and a prior antibody test. Data have been released as an update to the previous COVID-19 datasets. These comprise: 1) a standard dataset containing all participant responses to all four previous questionnaires with key sociodemographic factors;and 2) individual participant-specific release files enabling bespoke research across all areas supported by the study. This data note describes the second ALSPAC antibody test and the data obtained from it.