COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among breast cancer patients in East Avenue Medical Center

Abstract

IntroductionVaccine hesitancy has been an ongoing complex public issue in the Philippines posing threats to progress against preventable outbreaks and significant morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. Patients with cancer were not included in the initial vaccine trials against COVID-19 hence the plausible explanation behind vaccine hesitancy in this population. This study attempts to determine the factors affecting a patient diagnosed with breast cancer to receive COVID-19 vaccine based on constructs from the Health Beliefs Model (HBM).ObjectivesTo determine the factors affecting a Filipino diagnosed with breast cancer to receive COVID-19 vaccine, namely; perceived susceptibility and severity to COVID-19 and perceived benefits and barriers to getting a vaccination against COVID-19.MethodsA single- center, descriptive, cross-sectional study in patients diagnosed with breast cancer was conducted to assess COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.ResultsA total of 85 eligible breast cancer patients were included in the analyses. Age, socio-economic factors, and presence of co-morbidities and metastasis were not significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Concerns on efficacy, safety, faulty or fake vaccine, as well as if the vaccine was taken by many in the public were significantly associated with hesitancy (p <0.05) when taken as individual factors. The perception of COVID-19 vaccine safety under the perceived barriers construct was found to be the only significant factor to predict vaccine hesitancy (OR= 4.737, CI 1.75, 12.82).ConclusionsInterventions that focus on perceived barriers are most crucial in order to increase vaccination rate among breast cancer patients.DisclosureNo significant relationships.