A phone interview on the acceptance of Covid-19 vaccination amid adolescents in a Rheumatology Centre in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Background: According to newspaper Bernama, 87.6% of adolescents in Malaysia aged between 12 and 17 have completed their vaccination and 97.7% of the adult population have completed theirs as of 2nd January 2022.The acceptance of patients with rheumatic diseases on Covid-19 vaccination are crucial in the successful long term protection against Covid-19 infection. We conducted a phone interview to determine the acceptance of Covid-19 vaccination amongst adolescents with underlying rheumatic diseases. Objective(s) To determine the acceptance of Covid-19 vaccination amongst adolescents with underlying rheumatic diseases. Method(s) This was a phone survey. The electronic medical records of all rheumatology patients follow up in rheumatology clinic Hospital Sultan Ismail, Malaysia from 1st January 2012 to 31th December 2021 were reviewed and patients with age group from 12 to 21 were identified. Demographic and diagnosis of the patients collected. Result(s) Phone survey was done after data extracted from medical records. For those under the age of 18, guardian of the patients was interviewed. A total of 50 patients were identified. 36 of them were having systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 5 of them were having juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA),2 of them were having psoriatic arthritis (PSA) and another 2 of them were having Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), followed by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) overlapped SLE, juvenile dermatomyositis, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, SLE overlapped with JIA and mixed connective tissue disease, 1 each respectively. Most of the patients were female (46/50) and majority of them were Malay (33/50). This was followed by Chinese (10/50), Indian (4/50) and others (3/50). The mean age group was 18 (range from 13 to 21). Majority of them patients are keen or already completed Covid-19 vaccination with the acceptance rate as high as 92% (46/50). Only 8% of them not keen for vaccination with the reason of worrying the risk of myocarditis post vaccination. Conclusion(s) The overall acceptance rate of Covid-19 vaccination amongst adolescents with rheumatic diseases are very encouraging with the percentage of >90% despite of lacking knowledge about vaccine Covid-19. This result can assist our Ministry of Health plan for future battle to improve vaccine uptake that hopefully can lead to herd immunity against COVID-19 infection.