Co-Administration of Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccines: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Canadian Adults' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs

• Main Authors: Sherilyn K. D. Houle (Author), Ajit Johal (Author), Paul Roumeliotis (Author), Bertrand Roy (Author), Wendy Boivin (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2024-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Vaccination rates against both influenza and COVID-19 fall short of targets, especially among persons at risk of influenza complications. To gain insights into strategies to boost influenza vaccine coverage, we surveyed 3000 Canadian residents aged ≥ 18 years and examined their knowledge and receipt of co-administered influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. During the 2022-2023 influenza season, 70% of respondents reported being aware the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines could be co-administered, but only 26.2% (95% CI, 23.6% to 28.8%) of respondents received them together. The most common reason for not getting the vaccines together was receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine before the annual influenza vaccine was available (reported by 34.5% [31.2% to 37.7%]). Lack of interest in co-administration was reported by 22.6% (20.8% to 24.3%); of this group, 20.8% (17.1% to 24.5%) reported seeing no benefit in receiving the two vaccines together and 17.2% (13.5% to 20.9%) were concerned about compounded adverse effects from the two vaccines. These results support the willingness of most Canadians to receive COVID-19 and influenza vaccines at the same time. Co-administration is a viable strategy to improve uptake of influenza vaccines, especially if health professionals proactively offer education and co-administration of influenza and COVID-19 (or other) vaccines as appropriate to clinical need.

Item Description

10.3390/pharmacy12020070
2226-4787