ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Cancer-patients (pts) have an increased risk of complications from COVID-19 infection, including death, and thus they were considered as high priority subjects for COVID-19 vaccination We report on the compliance with the COVID-19 vaccine of pts affected by solid tumors MATERIAL AND METHODS Cancer pts afferent to Medical Oncology-1-Unit of Regina Elena National-Cancer-Institute in Rome were considered eligible for vaccination if they were receiving systemic immunosuppressive antitumor treatment, or received it in the last 6 months, or having an uncontrolled advanced disease The Pfizer-BNT162b2 vaccine was proposed to all candidates by phone contact or during a scheduled visit Reasons of refusal were collected by administrating a 6-items-multiple-choice questionnaire RESULTS From March 1st to 20th,2021, out 914 eligible pts 102 refused vaccination (11 2%,95%CI9 1-13 2) The most frequent (&gt;10%) reasons reported were concerns about vaccine-related adverse events (48 1%), negative interaction with concomitant antitumor therapy (26 7%) and the fear of allergic reaction (10 7%) The refusal rate (RR) after March 15th (date of AstraZeneca-AZD1222 suspension) was more than doubled compared to the RR observed before (19 7%vs8 6%,OR2 60,95%CI1 69-3 99,p&lt;0 0001)(Fig 1B) ECOG-PS 2 was associated with higher RR compared with ECOG-PS 0-1(OR2 94,95%CI1 04-8 34,p=0 04) No statistically significant differences in RR according to other clinical characteristics were found CONCLUSIONS Our experience represents the first worldwide report on the adherence of cancer-pts to COVID-19 vaccination and underlines how regulatory decisions and media news-spreading could influence the success of the campaign
The first report on Covid-19 vaccine refusal by cancer patients in Italy: early data from a single-institute survey