COVID-19 vaccine uptake in patients with psychiatric disorders admitted to or residing in a university psychiatric hospital

Abstract

People with psychiatric disorders, especially severe mental illness, have increased morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 infection; therefore, vaccination against COVID-19 should be prioritised for this vulnerable group,1Mazereel V Van Assche K Detraux J De Hert M COVID-19 vaccination for people with severe mental illness: why, what, and how?.Lancet Psychiatry. 2021; 8: 444-450Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (79) Google Scholar which has been done in several countries (eg, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, and the UK).2De Picker LJ Casanova Dias M Benros ME et al.Severe mental illness and European COVID-19 vaccination strategies.Lancet Psychiatry. 2021; 8: 356-359Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (37) Google Scholar There are growing concerns surrounding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the general population.3Sallam M COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy worldwide: a concise systematic review of vaccine acceptance rates.Vaccines. 2021; 9: 1-15Crossref Scopus (790) Google Scholar Vaccine hesitancy might also affect people with psychiatric disorders; however, a study showed only slightly lower COVID-19 vaccination willingness in people with psychiatric disorders (84·8%) compared with the general population (89·5%).4Jefsen OH Kølbæk P Gil Y et al.COVID-19 vaccine willingness among patients with mental illness compared with the general population.Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2021; 2021: 13-16Google Scholar In a large university psychiatric hospital in Belgium, we assessed how many people accepted an offer to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in a targeted vaccination programme. From March 30, 2021, to July 19, 2021, patients older than 18 years admitted to or already residing in the hospital (including patients in daycare) were invited to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Participants were directly invited by the hospital staff or were already enrolled in the governmental vaccination programme to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. We recorded vaccine acceptance, vaccine type, and whether they were fully or partly vaccinated on July 19, 2021. In addition, we compared these results with the national vaccination uptake rates at the end of the same period.1151 patients were offered COVID-19 vaccination, of whom 1070 (93%) accepted (table). Logistic regression did not show any effect of diagnosis on vaccination status. In the general population, by July 19, 2021, 88·9% of the adult population in Flanders, Belgium, had recieived their first vaccine dose, and 61·6% were fully vaccinated.TableParticipant characteristics and vaccine informationPatientsMean age, years (SD)49·31 (21·19)SexFemale676/1151 (58·7%)Male475/1151 (41·3%)DiagnosisCognitive disorder113/1151 (9·8%)Psychotic disorder243/1151 (21·1%)Bipolar disorder77/1151 (6·7%)Depressive disorder159/1151 (13·8%)Developmental disorder17/1151 (1·5%)Anxiety disorder94/1151 (8·2%)Personality disorder134/1151 (11·6%)Substance use disorder62/1151 (5·4%)Eating disorder45/1151 (3·9%)Adjustment disorder142/1151 (12·3%)Other65/1151 (5·6%)Vaccine statusFully936/1151 (81·3%)Partly134/1151 (11·6%)Refused81/1151 (7·0%)Vaccine typemRNA-1273 (Moderna)590/1070 (55·1%)BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech)371/1070 (34·7%)ChAdOx1 (Oxford–AstraZeneca)94/1070 (8·8%)Ad26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson)14/1070 (1·3%)Data are n/N (%), unless otherwise stated. Open table in a new tab Data are n/N (%), unless otherwise stated. People with psychiatric disorders often receive less preventive health care. However, our findings suggest that COVID-19 vaccination rates in people with mental disorders admitted to or residing in a psychiatric hospital are just as high as in the general population with a targeted prevention programme. Our results corroborate those of previous studies showing that people with psychiatric disorders are just as willing to receive vaccination and that vaccination rates in this population can be increased by targeted prevention programmes.4Jefsen OH Kølbæk P Gil Y et al.COVID-19 vaccine willingness among patients with mental illness compared with the general population.Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2021; 2021: 13-16Google Scholar Limitations of this study are the restriction to patients from a single residential setting and the generally high willingness for vaccination in Belgium. Vaccination willingness has been shown to be highly variable between countries.5Lazarus JV Ratzan SC Palayew A et al.A global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine.Nat Med. 2021; 27: 225-228Crossref PubMed Scopus (1212) Google ScholarIn conclusion, vaccination rates in people with psychiatric disorders admitted to the hospital are high and they should therefore be offered the chance for COVID-19 vaccination. We declare no competing interests.