Social Attitude to COVID‐19 and Influenza Vaccinations after the Influenza Vaccination Season and between the Second and Third COVID‐19 Wave in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine

Abstract

The SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic affected the entire world and contributed to severe health and economic consequences. A safe and effective vaccine is a tool allowing the pandemic to be con-trolled. Hence, we aimed to conduct a survey on vaccinations against seasonal influenza and COVID‐19 in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. We also evaluated societal attitudes towards influenza and COVID‐19 vaccinations. Materials and methods: We conducted the study between De-cember 2020 and May 2021. At the time, the countries subject to the research were between the second and third waves of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We used an anonymous and self‐designed questionnaire comprised of eleven closed‐ended questions and a short socio‐demographic section. The questionnaire was administered by direct contact or mainly (due to the COVID‐19 pandemic) by e‐mail or Facebook. Finally, we included 2753 answers from Poland, 1852 from Ukraine, and 213 from Lithuania. Results: Between 61% (Poland) and 72.9% (Ukraine) of the study participants have never been vaccinated against influenza (p < 0.05). Totals of 67.6% of the respondents in Poland, 73.71% in Lithuania, and 29.5% in Ukraine responded that they want to be vaccinated against COVID‐19 (p < 0.05). Vaccine hesitancy was mainly related to worries about its side effects. There were also vaccine non‐adopters in the study. In Ukraine, 67% of the respondents were clearly opposed to mandatory COVID‐19 vaccines, compared to 41.7% in Poland and 30.99% in Lithuania (p < 0.05). Conclusions: There are still many people who present vaccine hesitancy or are opposed to vaccines. Thus, societal education about vaccination and the pandemic is crucial. Vaccine hesitancy or refusal might be related to vaccine origin. Shortages of influenza vaccines made it impossible to vaccinate those who were determined to be vaccinated. There is room for discussion of mandatory COVID‐19 vaccinations.