SARS-COV-2 VACCINATION WILLINGNESS and PREDICTORS in PATIENTS with CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATIC DISEASES (CIRD) and WITHOUT CIRD

ABSTRACT

Background: Recent surveys in chronic infammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD) showed a high degree of vaccine hesitancy. Current knowledge about patients' attitudes towards vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is limited. Objectives: To assess the willingness of CIRD patients to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 and to identify influencing factors compared to non-CIRD patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, two cohorts of consecutively in parallel recruited patients with and without CIRD presenting to our tertiary hospital answered questions of a structured interview to assess vaccination willingness to SARS-CoV-2, experience with SARS-CoV2 in their environment and their personal history of infections and vaccinations. Vaccination willingness was assessed by a numerical rating scale (0 fully disagree;10 fully agree). Arbitrarily defned cut-offs were used to defne defnite (score ≥7) and probable willingness (scores of 5 or 6) to be vaccinated. Statistical analyses were performed with appropriate tests such as Kendall-tau b. Results: A total of 514 CIRD and 100 non-CIRD patients, mean age 54.7±12.8 and 55.6±9.8 years, were included. Defnite and probable willingness to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 was declared by 79.6% and 90.7% vs. 76.0% and 85.0% of CIRD and non-CIRD patients, respectively. Only 60% of CIRD patients believed that the vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 were safe, and 42% indicated to be afraid of side effects. Vaccination willingness correlated signifcantly with the degree of education, age, identifcation with a risk group for COVID-19 disease, hypertension, and the degree of information about preventable diseases. There was no correlation with the history of infections or with immunosuppressive therapy. Conclusion: Although our results show a high willingness for vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in both groups, there was quite some uncertainty regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. Since major influencing factors were education and information about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, patient education should be immediately improved.