Abstract 1593P
Background
Since the approval of several Covid-19 vaccines, the vaccination process worldwide was facing several challenges, one of them is vaccine uptake among the population, for instance cancer patients. We aimed to measure the acceptability towards the Covid-19 vaccination in cancer patients and to investigate determinant factors associated with the patient's choice.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a self-administered questionnaire delivered to 329 cancer patients in 3 oncology cancer centers in Tunisia between February-April 2021. Logistic regression was used to evaluate Odds Ratio predicting patient’s intentions toward the vaccine.
Results
Fifty point four percent (n=166) reported their intent to be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available, 28.4% (n=93) reported to definitely refuse the vaccine and 21.2% (n=70) did not make their decision yet. High educational level, history of comorbidities, history of influenza vaccination in the current season and patient’s opinion about the severity of Covid-19 did not predict vaccine resistance. However, patients who think that the vaccine may interfere with treatment efficacy (OR=7.28, 95%CI [2.5-12.32]), or may impact cancer outcome (OR=6.14, 95%CI[2.27-16.7]), were significantly more likely to refuse the vaccine. Patient’s who disagree that the vaccine is a major weapon against the pandemic (OR=6.07, 95%CI [2.34-9.52]) or that it could reduce the virus transmission (OR=7.34, 95%CI [4.22-11.81]) were also significantly more likely to reject the vaccination. Safety concerns were also significant predictive factors (OR=7.9, 95%CI [4.10-11.27]. Confidence level in the authorities played a significant role in patient’s acceptance of the vaccine (OR=2.9, 95%CI [1.47-5.23]), indeed patients who were not registered (OR=5.9, 95%CI [1.58-8.7]) or not informed about the Tunisian national vaccination platform EVAX (OR=5.51, 95%CI [2.1-7.9]) were more likely to be against the vaccine.
Conclusions
Cancer patient’s education about the impact of the vaccine on their disease and on the Covid-19 is needed. Governments should build strategies to gain more population confidence.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.