COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Patients With Psychiatric Disorders

Predictors of the Third (Booster) Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Intention among the Healthcare Workers in Saudi Arabia: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic on 11 March 2020, its spread continues throughout the world, with newer genetic variants regularly appearing from different parts of the world [ 1 ]. The most important available option in the control of the pandemic at present is vaccination against COVID-19 infection [ 2 ]. Currently, available evidence has clearly established the effectiveness of available vaccines against the novel coronavirus in reducing the severity of the COVID-19 infection and associated mortality [ 3 ].…”

Possible predictors of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in the psychiatric population – A scoping review

“… Eyllon et al (2022) Cross-sectional study Northeastern United States n = 14 365 patients of a group medical practice Outcome measures: online survey Main Findings: Substance and tobacco use disorders had vaccine hesitancy after regression analysis of sociodemographic factors; Medicaid payer type, lower education, income and Hispanic, female, and African American groups were associated with more vaccine hesitancy; younger respondents and those with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to report vaccination resistance. More vaccine hesitancy across all psychiatric comorbidities except Alcohol Use Disorders Huang et al (2021) Cross-sectional study Wuhan, China N = 906 adult patients with mental disorders Outcome measures: self-administered questionnaire Main findings: Higher education, a good family financial status, believing that over 50% of vaccine recipients would be immune to COVID-19, not being worried about side-effects, being out-patients, having mental disorders other than psychosis significantly associated with vaccine uptake 2.psychotic disorders were least likely to take the vaccine Jefsen et al, 2021 Cross-sectional study Danish Population n = 992 patients from psychiatric services Outcome measures: questionnaire-based online surveys Main findings: Younger age and mental illness were associated with lower vaccination willingness; Reasons for vaccine hesitancy: safety concerns, vaccines not sufficiently tested, vaccination unnecessary, lack of trust in authorities Uvais (2021) Cross-sectional study Indian population N = 90 patients of an outpatient psychiatry department Outcome measures: Covid-19 related questionnaire Main findings: Patients with higher education had more intentions of vaccination; Islamic participants had significantly higher vaccine hesitancy; Significantly higher vaccine hesitancy in this population in comparison to other global populations. Bai et al, 2021 Cross-sectional study Chinese Population N = 1853 outpatients and inpatients associated with 6 psychiatric hospitals Outcome measures: survey containing items from the WHO Quality of Life Scale Brief version (WHOQOL-BREF), the Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS), Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), Social Impact Scale (SIS) Main findings: ...…”

“…This was often attributed to barriers including mental health and disorder stigma and impaired decision-making skills ( Huang et al, 2021 ; Tzur Bitan et al, 2021 ). Lower socioeconomic status (SES) was found to be associated with increased likelihood of vaccine resistance ( Eyllon et al, 2022 ; Huang et al, 2021 ; Tzur Bitan et al, 2021 ; Nishimi et al, 2022), while having a higher education was associated with less vaccine hesitancy ( Eyllon et al, 2022 ; Huang et al, 2021 ; Uvais, 2021 ; Nishimi et al, 2022). It was also found that younger respondents had higher likelihoods of vaccine hesitancy ( Eyllon et al, 2022 ; Jefsen et al, 2021 ; Tzur Bitan et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Interestingly, it was also found that research participants of African American heritage were associated with increased vaccine hesitancy ( Eyllon et al, 2022 ; Sullivan et al, 2022 ; Nishimi et al, 2022), as well as those of Hispanic ( Eyllon et al, 2022 ) and Islamic ( Uvais, 2021 ) backgrounds, which could also be attributed to a lower educational level. Sullivan et al (2022) attributed the lower willingness to vaccinate seen in Black Americans to possibly greater medical and government mistrust based on present or past discrimination.…”

How evolutionary science can help us understand vaccine refusal in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…18 However, another study demonstrated that vaccine hesitancy in psychiatric in-patients mapped more clearly on to educational and ethnic characteristics. 19 The definition of a delusion requires that the belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture and is particularly selfreferential, which clearly does not apply to general vaccine refusal. Consequently, the main role for a psychiatrist should be in terms of applying legislation such as the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in England and Wales, designed for patients who have a disturbance of the mind or brain.…”