Abstract
Background: COVID-19 vaccination significantly reduces the risk of infection and its associated morbidity and mortality. However, poor uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination was reported among the high-risk group of older people amidst emerging variants of concern. This community case study reports an outreach program in Singapore, COVE (COVID-19 Vaccination for the Elderly) initiated by healthcare workers in a cluster of primary care clinics. They assessed the vaccine hesitancy among these older persons, addressed their concerns and facilitated their vaccination appointment during a brief phone conversation.
Method: Twenty one thousand six hundred and sixty three unvaccinated adults aged ≥60 years were contacted by healthcare worker volunteers over two phases from June to October 2021. In phase I, they contacted adults aged above 70 years over 2 weeks. Adults who were uncontactable in phase I and those aged 60-69 years were sent SMS in phase II. Data were analyzed via descriptive data analysis.
Results: After phase 1, 65.5% ( n = 5,646/8,617) of older adults had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The respondents expressed intention to vaccinate (39%, n = 3,390), requested to seek further information (25%, n = 2,138), reported access barrier (8%, n = 715), or were concerned of the vaccine adverse effects (3%, n = 288). Vaccination was refused by 24% ( n = 2,086) of the respondents. Eventually 60.4% ( n = 13,082/21,663) of them were vaccinated 3 months after COVE implementation.
Conclusion: The COVE program increased the COVID-19 vaccination uptake of older adults from 84.6 to 96.3%. A person-centric proactive approach by healthcare workers addressed vaccine hesitancy and optimized vaccination. The outreach scheduling of vaccination appointments is key in promoting vaccination uptake among older adults.
Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccination; multidisciplinary team; older adult; vaccination program; vaccine promotion.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, multidisciplinary team, Vaccination program, older adult, vaccine promotion., 【초록키워드】 Vaccine, primary care, COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination, Healthcare workers, Phase I, elderly, variants of concern, Vaccine hesitancy, healthcare worker, clinics, Adults, COVID-19 vaccination, implementation, Data analysis, Community, Cluster, Intention, morbidity and mortality, case study, Singapore, information, dose, risk of infection, older adult, Phase 1, adverse effect, Older, vaccinate, Volunteer, SMS, approach, COVE, vaccination appointments, analyzed, significantly, reported, facilitated, expressed, initiated, reduce, the vaccine, addressed, vaccination appointment, 【제목키워드】 Older, effort,