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. 2023 May;70(5):e30274.
doi: 10.1002/pbc.30274. Epub 2023 Mar 1.

Attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease and their caregivers

Yogindra Persaud  1   2 , Belinda N Mandrell  3 , Akshay Sharma  4 , Yvonne Carroll  1 , Mary Irvine  2 , Yunusa Olufadi  5 , Guolian Kang  5 , Diego R Hijano  6 , Parul Rai  1 , Jane S Hankins  1 , Liza-Marie Johnson  1   7
Affiliations

Attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease and their caregivers

Yogindra Persaud et al. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2023 May.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate attitudes toward vaccination and vaccine uptake regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their caregivers.

Procedure: Adolescent patients and caregivers of children with SCD were surveyed during routine clinic visits; we then conducted a logistic regression analysis to understand differences in vaccine status, while qualitative responses were coded thematically.

Results: Among respondents, the overall vaccination rate among adolescents and caregivers was 49% and 52%, respectively. Among the unvaccinated, 60% and 68% of adolescents and caregivers, respectively, preferred to remain unvaccinated, most commonly due to lack of perceived personal benefit from vaccination or mistrust in the vaccine. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that child's age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0-1.2, p < .01) and caregiver education (measured by the Economic Hardship Index [EHI] score, OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.74-0.78, p < .05) were independent predictors of getting vaccinated.

Conclusion: Despite the increased risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 in patients with SCD, vaccine hesitancy remains high in this population of families whose children have SCD. Fortunately, the reasons cited for deferring vaccination among those who are unvaccinated were largely due to barriers that may be overcome with quality communication around the utility of the vaccine and information about vaccine safety.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03745287 NCT04443907 NCT05456880.

Keywords: public health; sickle cell disease; vaccine/immunization.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Dr. Akshay Sharma has received consultant fees from Spotlight Therapeutics, Medexus Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Therapeutics and Editas Medicine. He has also received research funding from CRISPR Therapeutics and honoraria from Vindico Medical Education. Dr. Sharma is the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital site principal investigator of clinical trials for genome editing of sickle cell disease sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals/CRISPR Therapeutics (NCT03745287), Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NCT04443907) and Beam Therapeutics (NCT05456880). The industry sponsors provide funding for the clinical trial, which includes salary support paid to Dr. Sharma’s institution. Dr. Sharma has no direct financial interest in these therapies.

Dr. Jane Hankins receives Consultancy fees for Global Blood Therapeutics.

The remaining authors have no relevant conflicts of interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1 –
Figure 1 –
Results from survey of adolescent patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and caregivers of patients with SCD
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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