Attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination status in cancer patients: a cross-sectional survey

Svenja Heyne,Anja Mehnert-Theuerkauf,Peter Esser,Anne Werner,Antje Lehmann-Laue

doi:10.1007/s00432-022-03961-y

Svenja Heyne, Anja Mehnert-Theuerkauf + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-022-03961-y

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Abstract

PurposeWe aim to assess attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination status in cancer patients and to explore additional factors such as the level of information and comprehensibility and accessibility of this information, anxiety symptoms in general and toward COVID-19, and general health literacy.MethodsWe included 425 outpatients (mean age 61.4, age range 30–88 years, 60.5% women) of the Psychosocial Counseling Center for Cancer patients of the Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Leipzig. We recorded attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination status via self-report. The impact of psychosocial factors, including anxiety (GAD-7), COVID-19-specific anxiety (OCS; FCV-19S) and health literacy (HLS-EU-Q16) were analyzed with point-biserial correlations using Pearson’s r.ResultsWe found that the vast majority (95.5%) reported being vaccinated against COVID-19 and that overall trust in safety and protective effects of a COVID-19 vaccine was high (90.9%). The vaccination readiness among nonvaccinated cancer survivors was low to very low with “fear of side effects” the most mentioned (72.2%) reason against a COVID-19 vaccine. There was no significant correlation between vaccination status and fear or anxiety symptomatology, and health literacy. Obsessive thoughts about COVID-19 was significantly higher in nonvaccinated cancer patients.ConclusionsMajority of respondents are positive about COVID-19 vaccine, accompanied by a very high rate of COVID-19 immunization in our sample. Further studies with a larger sample of nonvaccinated cancer patients should further investigate the relationship on fear and vaccination hesitancy and align communication strategies accordingly.

Highlights

Numerous studies have shown that patients with cancer are at increased risk of severe or fatal outcome with COVID19 (Barbui et al 2021; Chari et al 2020; Desai et al 2020, 2021; Kuderer et al 2020; Richardson et al 2020; Sharma et al 2021; Subbiah 2020)
We found that confidence in the protective effect of a vaccine is high in cancer patients with respect to a COVID-19 vaccine and vaccines in general
Our results showed no correlation between vaccination status and symptoms of anxiety in general and toward COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

Numerous studies have shown that patients with cancer are at increased risk of severe or fatal outcome with COVID19 (Barbui et al 2021; Chari et al 2020; Desai et al 2020, 2021; Kuderer et al 2020; Richardson et al 2020; Sharma et al 2021; Subbiah 2020). In a study from the UK, mortality in hospitalized patients with cancer was 40.5% versus 28.5% (HR 1.62; p < 0.001) in non-cancer patients (Palmieri et al 2020). In the German LEOSS registry, mortality in cancer patients was 22.5% versus 14% (p < 0.001) in non-cancer patients (Rüthrich et al 2021). On June 7, 2021, the German government lifted vaccination prioritization. All people in Germany over the age of 12 could generally get a vaccination appointment. As previous study results suggest, factors influencing COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and hesitancy among cancer patients are concern with worsening the prognosis of the cancer treatment, critical evaluation of vaccines’ efficacy and safety, and knowledge on the COVID-19 vaccination process (Brodziak et al 2021, Chun et al 2021, Hong et al 2022)

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