Background: COVID-19 vaccination significantly reduces the risk of infection and its associated morbidity and mortality. However, poor uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination was reported among the high-risk group of older people amidst emerging variants of concern. This community case study reports an outreach program in Singapore, COVE (COVID-19 Vaccination for the Elderly) initiated by healthcare workers in a cluster of primary care clinics. They assessed the vaccine hesitancy among these older persons, addressed their concerns and facilitated their vaccination appointment during a brief phone conversation.
Method: Twenty one thousand six hundred and sixty three unvaccinated adults aged ≥60 years were contacted by healthcare worker volunteers over two phases from June to October 2021. In phase I, they contacted adults aged above 70 years over 2 weeks. Adults who were uncontactable in phase I and those aged 60-69 years were sent SMS in phase II. Data were analyzed via descriptive data analysis.
Results: After phase 1, 65.5% (n = 5,646/8,617) of older adults had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The respondents expressed intention to vaccinate (39%, n = 3,390), requested to seek further information (25%, n = 2,138), reported access barrier (8%, n = 715), or were concerned of the vaccine adverse effects (3%, n = 288). Vaccination was refused by 24% (n = 2,086) of the respondents. Eventually 60.4% (n = 13,082/21,663) of them were vaccinated 3 months after COVE implementation.
Conclusion: The COVE program increased the COVID-19 vaccination uptake of older adults from 84.6 to 96.3%. A person-centric proactive approach by healthcare workers addressed vaccine hesitancy and optimized vaccination. The outreach scheduling of vaccination appointments is key in promoting vaccination uptake among older adults.
Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccination; multidisciplinary team; older adult; vaccination program; vaccine promotion.
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