Increasing the COVID-19 immunization rate through allergy testing.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
; 37(6): 1228-1235, 2023 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36808753
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Vaccination of the population is required to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Allergy testing could reduce anxiety towards COVID-19 vaccination and thereby may increase vaccination rate, however, its effectiveness remains unclear.METHODS:
One hundred and thirty prospective real-life patients in need of but not daring to get vaccinated asked for allergy workup for COVID-19 vaccine hypersensitivity in 2021/2022. Characterization of patients, identification of anxieties, decrease of patient's anxiety levels, overall vaccination rate and adverse reactions after vaccination were assessed.RESULTS:
Tested patients were characterized by being female (91.5%) and having a high rate of previous allergies (e.g. to food 55.4%, drugs 54.6%, or previous vaccinations 50%) and dermatological disease (29.2%) but not always had medical contraindications for COVID-19 vaccination. Sixty one patients (49.6%) were highly concerned (4-6, Likert scale 0-6) about vaccination and 47 (37.6%) expressed resolving thoughts about vaccinaion anaphylaxis (3-6, Likert scale 0-6). However only 35 patients (28.5%) were scared of getting COVID-19 within 2 months (4-6, Likert scale 0-6) and only 11 (9%) patients had high expectations of getting COVID-19 (4-6, Likert scale 0-6). Allergy testing significantly (p < 0.01 to p < 0.05 respectively) reduced the median anxiety of allergic symptoms following vaccination dyspnoea (4.2-3.1), to faint (3.7-2.7), long-term consequences (3.6-2.2), pruritus (3.4-2.6), skin rash (3.3-2.6) and death (3.2-2.6). After allergy testing, most patients (108/122, 88.5%) let themselves be vaccinated within 60 days. Revaccinated patients with previous symptoms experienced a reduction of symptoms (p < 0.05) upon revaccination.CONCLUSIONS:
Patients not daring to get vaccinated have more anxiety towards vaccination than to acquire COVID-19. For those, allergy testing excludes vaccine allergy, and is a tool to increase vaccination willingness and thereby helps to combat vaccination hesitancy.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19 Vaccines
/
COVID-19
/
Anaphylaxis
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
Journal subject:
DERMATOLOGIA
/
DOENCAS SEXUALMENTE TRANSMISSIVEIS
Year:
2023
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany