COVID-19 vaccination rate in patients admitted to the Immunology and Allergy Outpatient Clinic

Abstract

Aim Misinformation, lack of awareness, and beliefs about vaccines can cause hesitations about vaccines and affect the rate of vaccination. We aimed to reveal the vaccination rates against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) (vaccine types and dose), and the reasons for not being vaccinated in patients admitted to the immunology and allergy outpatient clinic. In addition, we aimed to find out whether allergic reactions were observed in vaccinated patients. Methods The history of COVID-19 and vaccination of patients admitted to the Immunology and Allergy Outpatient Clinic between December 2021 and February 2022 were evaluated retrospectively. Results In our study, which included 451 patients, the median age of the patients was 35 (range 18-82), and 61.2% were women. 16.9% of the patients admitted to the immunology and allergy outpatient clinic were never vaccinated, while the rate of those who did not receive two doses of vaccine was 26.6%. The top three reasons for not being vaccinated were fear of allergies, fear of adverse effects, and distrust of the vaccine, respectively. Unvaccinated patients were younger, which is statistically significant. Vaccination rate was found to be lower in drug allergy and immunodeficiencies compared to other disease groups. Conclusion Understanding the causes of vaccine hesitations and increasing the vaccination rate by organizing public health campaigns is an important point in the control of the pandemic. Despite being rare, allergic reactions can be observed with COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, immunologists and allergists play an important role in the COVID-19 vaccine program.