ABSTRACT
Introduction: the main objective of the study was to analyse the influenza vaccination coverage in years 2019 and 2020 and assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on it. To do so, we compared the patients vaccinated in 2 primary care centres (PCCs) of similar characteristics but that differed in that one of them actively recruited patients for vaccination by sending a reminder to their home address. Material and methods: we conducted an observational study in a sample of 934 patients vaccinated in the first month of the influenza vaccination campaign in years 2019 and 2020. We did a descriptive analysis of the sample. Subsequently, we compared the percentage of vaccinated patients at the end of the first month of the campaign in 2019 and 2020 and in the 2 PCCs using the χ2 test. Results: the overall percentage of patients vaccinated after the first month of the campaign was 33.9% in 2020 and 19.9% in 2019 (p <0.001), with significant differences between PCCs as well. A greater percentage of patients received the vaccine in PCC 1, which had an active patient recruitment strategy (p <0.001). Conclusions: the vaccination coverage was higher in 2020 compared to 2019, which could be explained by the anxiety elicited in the population by coexistence of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2. Active recruitment strategies help increase vaccination coverage in patients with asthma. © 2022, Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics. All rights reserved.