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