Investigating Adherence to COVID-19 Vaccination and Serum Antibody Concentration among Hospital Workers—The Experience of an Italian Private Hospital

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been high, especially among healthcare workers worldwide during the first wave. Vaccination is recognized as the most effective approach to combat the pandemic, but hesitation to get vaccinated represents an obstacle. Another important issue is the duration of protection after administration of the full vaccination cycle. Based on these premises, we conducted a study to evaluate vaccination adherence and the anti-S antibodies levels among hospital workers, from January to March, 2021. To assess adherence, an anonymous questionnaire was used. Anti-S antibody levels were obtained from the monitoring serological sample database. In total, 56.2% of the unvaccinated people did not report a previous infection from COVID-19. Among those who have not been vaccinated, 12.5% showed distrust against the vaccine, 8.3% stated to have received contraindications to the vaccination, and 6.3% did not report any choice. Analyzing anti-S antibody levels, only one person was found to have a value below the lower cut-off, two weeks, and three months after receiving their second dose. One was below the cut-off after two weeks, and then above the same cut-off after three months. The results of our survey should be seen as a stimulus to further sensitize hospital staff to the importance of vaccination and pay attention to anti-S antibody levels monitoring.

COVID-19 Vaccination in Health Care Workers in Italy: A Literature Review and a Report from a Comprehensive Cancer Center

“…A total of 57 studies, including additional papers found through a reference scanning (n = 3) and a Google search (n = 1), were screened for full-text review. Forty-four studies were eventually considered appropriate [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] for this literature review, as detailed in Figure 1 .…”

“…The studies were carried out in 12 out of the 20 Italian regions, with the highest number of studied performed in Lazio (n = 10) followed by Lombardy and Veneto (n = 8) and Campania (n = 6). One study only considered private hospitals [ 16 ] and one was multi-centric [ 24 ]; all of the other ones were performed in public or university hospitals. Five were brief reports or short communications [ 16 , 35 , 36 , 47 , 49 ], six were letters to the Editor [ 11 , 15 , 37 , 42 , 46 ] or research letters [ 50 ] reporting original results, whereas the remaining 33 were full papers.…”

“…One study only considered private hospitals [ 16 ] and one was multi-centric [ 24 ]; all of the other ones were performed in public or university hospitals. Five were brief reports or short communications [ 16 , 35 , 36 , 47 , 49 ], six were letters to the Editor [ 11 , 15 , 37 , 42 , 46 ] or research letters [ 50 ] reporting original results, whereas the remaining 33 were full papers. The median sample size for the considered study populations was equal to 198.…”

“…Included studies [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] were evaluated descriptively through percentage or median and range for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Regarding the primary endpoint of the analysis, if no antibody response rates were directly reported, seroconversion rates were calculated from the graphs or the tables reported in the text.…”

Fear of Illness and Convenient Access to Vaccines Appear to Be the Missing Keys to Successful Vaccination Campaigns: Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Decisions of Hospital Staff in Poland concerning Vaccination against Influenza and COVID-19

“…Before the introduction of vaccines, the observed SARS-CoV-2 transmission was high, especially among healthcare workers worldwide [ 14 ]. This was facilitated by the fact that the symptoms of COVID-19 were highly uncharacteristic, often mild or even absent [ 15 ].…”