COVID-19 Vaccine Administration and Hesitation Among Psychiatric Emergency Services Patients

Abstract

Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) at Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs (VACT) began offering the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible veterans in February 2021. From February 10 to March 17, 2021 there were 110 encounters where a veteran was offered the vaccine (96 unique veterans). Of those 96 veterans, 39 (40.6%) were interested in receiving the vaccine. Of those, 23 (60.0%) veterans received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and among those, 21 (91.3%) eventually received the second dose. Sixteen veterans were interested but unable to receive the vaccine due to PES-related obstacles. Common themes regarding vaccine hesitancy among this population include vaccine mistrust and concerns about side effects. Offering the vaccine to PES patients allowed VACT to reach a vulnerable subset of veterans who may be at higher risk of contracting the virus and experience worse disease outcomes.