RESUMO
(1) The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated health disparities, both between foreign and autochthonous populations. Italy was one of the European countries that was the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only limited data are available on vaccine willingness. This study aims to assess the propensity of foreign and autochthonous populations residing in Italy to be vaccinated and the relative associated factors. (2) Data were collected and analysed from the two Italian surveillance systems, PASSI and PASSI d'Argento, in the period of August 2020-December 2021. The data include those of the Italian resident adult population over 18 years old. A multinomial logistic regression model, stratified by citizenship, was used to assess the associations of sociodemographic, health, and COVID-19 experience variables with vaccination attitudes. (3) This study encompassed 19,681 eligible subjects. Considering the willingness to be vaccinated, foreign residents were significantly less certain to get vaccinated (49.4% vs. 60.7% among Italians). Sociodemographic characteristics, economic difficulties, and trust in local health units emerged as factors that were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance. Having received the seasonal flu vaccine was identified as a predictor of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among foreign and Italian residents. (4) This study underscores the significance of tailoring interventions to address vaccine hesitancy based on the diverse characteristics of foreign and Italian residents. This research offers practical insights for public health strategies, highlighting the importance of tailored educational campaigns, improved communication, and nuanced interventions to enhance vaccine acceptance and uptake within both populations.
RESUMO
Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a sensitive and reproducible technology widely used for quantitation of several viruses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the 2019-nCoV CDC ddPCR Triplex Probe Assay (BioRad) performance, comparing the direct quantitation of SARS-CoV-2 on nasopharyngeal swab with the procedure applied to the extracted RNA. Moreover, two widely used swab types were compared (UTM 3 mL and ESwab 1 mL, COPAN). A total of 50 nasopharyngeal swabs (n = 25 UTM 3 mL and n = 25 ESwab 1 mL) from SARS-CoV-2 patients, collected during the pandemic at IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital (Veneto Region, North-East Italy), were used for our purpose. After heat inactivation, an aliquot of swab medium was used for the direct quantitation. Then, we compared the direct method with the quantitation performed on the RNA purified from nasopharyngeal swab by automated extraction. We observed that the direct approach achieved generally equal RNA copies compared to the extracted RNA. The results with the direct quantitation were more accurate on ESwab with a sensitivity of 93.33% [95% CI, 68.05 to 99.83] and specificity of 100.00% for both N1 and N2. On the other hand, on UTM we observed a higher rate of discordant results for N1 and N2. The human internal amplification control (RPP30) showed 100% of both sensitivity and specificity independent of swabs and approaches. In conclusion, we described a direct quantitation of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swab. Our approach resulted in an efficient quantitation, without automated RNA extraction and purification. However, special care needs to be taken on the potential bias due to the conservation of samples and to the heating treatment, as we used thawed and heat inactivated material. Further studies on a larger cohort of samples are warranted to evaluate the clinical value of this direct approach.
