[Vaccination willingness and educational level]. / Vaccinatiebereidheid en opleidingsniveau.

Vaccination is an important part of the fight against COVID-19 virus. A predictor of the proportion of people who will actually take a vaccination is the willingness to vaccinate among the population. Literature shows that vaccination willingness among people with lower socioeconomic status is lower than among other groups. In this contribution we describe to what extent this is also the case in the Netherlands and show how risk perception, trust in the effects and safety of the vaccine, and health literacy may be related to this. Finally, we highlight a number of intervention strategies that can make a positive contribution to vaccination willingness among lower educated groups.

Frailty among Older People during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in The Netherlands.

Restrictive measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic may cause problems in the physical, social, and psychological functioning of older people, resulting in increased frailty. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to assess the prevalence and characteristics of frailty, to examine differences in perceived COVID-19-related concerns and threats between frail and non-frail people and to identify variables associated with frailty in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Dutch older people aged ≥ 65 years. We used data from the Lifelines COVID-19 Cohort Study. The Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) was used, with a score ≥ 4 indicating frailty. Frailty was described per domain (i.e., physical, cognitive, social, and psychological). The association between demographic, health and lifestyle variables and frailty was determined with logistic regression analyses. Frailty was present in 13% of the 11,145 participants that completed the GFI. Most items contributing to a positive frailty score were found within the social domain, in the frail (51%) and the non-frail (59%) persons. For items related to concerns and threats, a significantly higher proportion of frail people reported being worried or feeling threatened. In conclusion, during Corona restrictions, prevalence of frailty was considerable in older people from the Northern Netherlands, with one in eight being frail. Frailty was characterized by social problems and frail people were more often worried and felt threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccinatiebereidheid en opleidingsniveau Vaccination willingness and educational level

Samenvatting Vaccinatie is een belangrijk onderdeel in de bestrijding van het COVID-19-virus. Een voorspeller van het aandeel mensen dat daadwerkelijk een vaccinatie zal nemen is de vaccinatiebereidheid onder de bevolking. Uit buitenlandse literatuur blijkt dat de vaccinatiebereidheid onder mensen met een lagere sociaaleconomische status lager ligt dan onder andere groepen. In deze bijdrage beschrijven we in hoeverre dit ook in Nederland het geval is en laten we zien hoe risicoperceptie, vertrouwen in de werking en veiligheid van het vaccin en gezondheidsvaardigheden hier mogelijk mee samenhangen. Tot slot belichten we een aantal interventiestrategieën die positief aan de vaccinatiebereidheid onder laagopgeleiden kunnen bijdragen.