Vaccination rates and the causes of vaccine hesitancy among patients with end stage renal disease

Abstract

Aim: Chronic kidney disease creates a tendency to infections, and infections are the second most common reason for mortality following cardiovascular events in chronic kidney disease. Health authorities recommend vaccination against hepatitis B, annual influenza, pneumonia, zoster, tetanus, and new coronavirus disease for people with end-stage kidney disease. Vaccine-preventable diseases cause mortality in the adult population with chronic diseases. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate vaccination rates and awareness about vaccination among end-stage renal disease patients who were on renal replacement therapies in a single tertiary center in Turkey. Material and Method: 86 hemodialysis patients were included in this cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was used to investigate whether the patients were aware of the immunization schedule or not and whether they were vaccinated against hepatitis B virus, seasonal influenza virus, pneumonia, herpes zoster, tetanus, and SARS-CoV-2 or not. Results: Fifty-eight (67.4%) patients were vaccinated against SARS CoV2. 48(55.8%) patients were vaccinated against the Hepatitis B virus. 31 (36%) patients were vaccinated against Pneumococcus pneumonia. 48 (55.8%) patients have been vaccinated against the influenza virus annually. Only 14 (16.3%) patients were vaccinated against tetanus during the previous 10 years, and only 1 (1.2%) patient was vaccinated against Herpes zoster. Influenza vaccination rates were found to be higher in patients with a longer duration of hemodialysis when compared to the other group(p=0.03). SARS-CoV 2 vaccination rates were higher in patients who were older than 59 years of age when compared to the younger patients(p=0.03). Conclusion: Vaccination rates are far from the targets in patients with end-stage kidney disease. The most common reason to be unvaccinated is a lack of enough knowledge about the subject.