Is COVID-19 a Real Incentive for Flu Vaccination? Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves

Di Pumpo, Marcello; Vetrugno, Giuseppe; Pascucci, Domenico; Carini, Elettra; Beccia, Viria; Sguera, Anna; Zega, Maurizio; Pani, Marcello; Cambieri, Andrea; Nurchis, Mario Cesare; D’Ambrosio, Floriana; Damiani, Gianfranco; Laurenti, Patrizia

Seasonal flu vaccination is one of the most important strategies for preventing influenza. The attitude towards flu vaccination in light of the COVID-19 pandemic has so far been studied in the literature mostly with the help of surveys and questionnaires. Whether a person chooses to be vaccinated or not during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, speaks louder than any declaration of intention. In our teaching hospital, we registered a statistically significant increase in flu vaccination coverage across all professional categories between the 2019/2020 and the 2020/2021 campaign (24.19% vs. 54.56%, p < 0.0001). A linear regression model, based on data from four previous campaigns, predicted for the 2020/2021 campaign a total flu vaccination coverage of 30.35%. A coverage of 54.46% was, instead, observed, with a statistically significant difference from the predicted value (p < 0.0001). The COVID-19 pandemic can, therefore, be considered as an incentive that significantly and dramatically increased adherence to flu vaccination among our healthcare workers.