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. 2021 Oct 21;9(11):1222.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines9111222.

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy

Francesca Gallè  1 , Elita Anna Sabella  2 , Paolo Roma  3 , Giovanna Da Molin  2 , Giusy Diella  4 , Maria Teresa Montagna  4 , Stefano Ferracuti  3 , Giorgio Liguori  1 , Giovanni Battista Orsi  5 , Christian Napoli  6
Affiliations

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy

Francesca Gallè et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; elderly; green pass; immunization campaign; vaccine acceptance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportions of respondents favorable or not to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination among vaccinated/non vaccinated respondents enrolled before and after the adoption of green pass. * p value < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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