| Abstract |
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a particularly significant threat to
global public health. The rapid spread of the disease has caused a significant increase
in the morbidity and mortality of citizens, especially among the elderly. Older age,
geriatric syndromes, underlying diseases, and comorbidity have been identified as key
factors in the adverse outcomes of older adults suffering from COVID-19. With
vaccination being one of the key tools in tackling the pandemic, countries are now
facing the next challenge of addressing vaccine hesitation. Vaccine hesitancy, defined
as a delay in the acceptance or refusal of vaccination has been acknowledges as a
global phenomenon that poses a crucial risk to public health.
Purpose: The present study sought to examine COVID-19 vaccine intentions among a
sample of residents from the Municipality of Phaistos in the island of Crete, Greece.
a) More specifically, the sub-objectives of the research are the determination of:
The opinion of the elderly residents on the subject of vaccination and their
vaccination intentions.
b) The factors related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
c) Their information sources regarding COVID-19 disease, with particular
emphasis given on the role of Primary Health Care, but also the extent to
which these sources have influenced their views on vaccines. Methodology: The present cross-sectional study was conducted at the Health Centre
located in Moires, Heraklion in Crete. The sample consisted of 98 elderly residents of
the Municipality of Phaistos, out of a total of 100 surveyed (response rate 98%). For
the purpose of the research, a specially designed real-time questionnaire was used,
which was divided into six sections. The capabilities of descriptive statistics through
frequency analysis and boxplot were also used to control the distribution and
calculation of percentages and cumulative rates of the vaccination intention
hypothesis. Three scales were used accordingly: 1) compliance with Public Health
protection measures against COVID-19, 2) Beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes about
COVID-19 vaccination and 3) the degree of confidence in the COVID-19 vaccination
information. In addition to the evaluation of their descriptive statistic distributions, the
correlation between them and the comparison of their scores with the basic
characteristics of the participants through the x2 methods and with Student t followed.
Results: 58,2% of the participants were women with 36,7% being 71-75 years old,
primary school graduates (42,9%), married, or in cohabitation (66,3%). Regarding
their health habits, the majority stated that they had never smoked (56.1%), were
vaccinated against influenza (76,5%), pneumococcus (55,1%), or COVID-19 (87%).
Despite the compulsory vaccination of people over sixty years old, 13 were hesitant to
be vaccinated. Their reluctance was mainly attributed to the possible side effects of
the vaccines (83%), the lack of evidence for their effectiveness (37,7%), and their
influence from the information transmitted by the media (28,3%). Regarding their
sources of information, they come mainly from television (87,5%) while at the same
time they trust K.Y. of their area (70,8%). Demographic characteristics and medical
history were not significantly correlated with vaccination reluctance (p> 0.05). On the
calculation of the three scales, moderate to high average levels of the average scores
were observed (17,5, 34,5 and 18,8, respectively) expressing respectively: 1) faithful
or absolute implementation of the specific measures, 2) increased or negative degree
of agreement of beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors on COVID-19 and 3) increased
degree of agreement or trust in information about COVID-19 while increased
compliance with protection measures was significantly associated with the increased
level of trust in the information received (r = 0.283, p = 0.017). Those who had
reasons for hesitation (compared to those who did not) showed a significantly higher
degree of beliefs - perceptions - attitudes against COVID-19 (average score 36.9 vs.
31.5, p = 0.001). At the same time, regardless of the reasons for hesitation, there seems to be homogeneity in the observance of protection measures as well as in the
trust in the information they receive (p> 0.05).
Conclusion: Despite the implementation of the mandatory vaccination regarding the
elderly, hesitance was present although in a very small percentage. Our study suggests
that dealing with COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy of the elderly should be informed
through a consolidated understanding and properly addressing the beliefs, concerns,
and socio-cultural factors.
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