Abstract
In Italy, at the end of 2020, a voluntary immunization plan against COVID-19 was introduced, involving elderly among the first target categories. The aim of this study was to assess, through an online questionnaire, the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination in a sample of older adults from southern Italy. Of a total of 1041 respondents (41.7% males, mean age 76.6 ± 6.5), 965 (92.7%) were vaccinated or willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, although less than half of the sample was favorable to vaccinations and agreed with mandatory immunization. Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination was found to be positively related with higher educational level (OR = 1.875, CI95% = 1.113–3.161; p = 0.018) and having social/mass media as a main source of information (OR = 2.415 CI95% = 1.358–4.296, p = 0.003). On the contrary, an inverse relationship was found between acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination and having fulfilled the questionnaire after the introduction of green pass (OR = 0.218, CI95% = 0.129–0.369; p < 0.001). Therefore, although this evidence needs to be further confirmed, it is possible to agree with previous studies reporting that compulsory measures, such as green pass implementation, must be accompanied by effective education and information strategies of the target population.
Highlights
Since the end of 2019, the spread of the severe acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has had great repercussions on people’s health and quality of life, and on healthcare and socioeconomic systems [1]
901 (86.6%) participants were yet vaccinated against COVID-19; 64 of those who were not vaccinated were willing to be vaccinated in the future
As for the comparison between willing and non-willing to be vaccinated, significant greater proportions of females, people older than 77 years, highly educated, and vaccinated against influenza in the previous and in the current season were found among vaccinated/willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 people
Summary
Since the end of 2019, the spread of the severe acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has had great repercussions on people’s health and quality of life, and on healthcare and socioeconomic systems [1]. While this paper is written, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused approximately 230 million cases and about 4.7 million deaths worldwide [2]. Based on scientific evidence in the control of infectious diseases [4,5,6], several measures and surveillance systems were adopted and enforced to limit the spread of the virus and its burden [7]. A large number of scientific and medical institutions were engaged to rapidly develop and test an effective vaccine, that was firstly released at the end of 2020 [8,9]
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