COVID-19 and Influenza: Vaccination Before and During the Pandemic among the Lebanese Adult Population

  1. Anthony Elia
  2. Nedal Taha
  3. Sima Tokajian

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Abstract

Influenza is a common respiratory tract disease that has been around for years. Vaccination remains the most cost-effective measure to avoid infection. Influenza vaccination rates in Lebanon, like elsewhere in the world, are known to be suboptimal. The emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 led to a global health crisis. This study aimed at assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tendency of the general adult population residing in Lebanon to vaccinate against influenza. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted between November and December 2020 using a structured questionnaire passed on 1055 individuals to determine factors influencing vaccination habits prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The factors were analyzed using univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. The majority (69.7%) of the study participants never received the influenza vaccine within the last 5 years, 20% vaccinated occasionally, and only 10.3% were yearly vaccinated. Among individuals who never got the influenza vaccine within the last 5 years, 20.7% reported their willingness to vaccinate this winter significantly increasing the vaccination percentage. Participants concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic showed an enhanced willingness to vaccinate against both. Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination rates, nevertheless, are still considerably lower than the recommended coverage. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant increase in the tendency to vaccinate against influenza. Yet, urgent vaccination strategies should be implemented to boost vaccine uptake across all demographics to consequently diminish the burden conflicted by influenza, COVID-19, and ultimately other infectious diseases.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.10.21251392: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: The presented cross-sectional study was revised and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the Lebanese American University (approval number LAU.
    Consent: A total of 1055 participants from all adult age groups and residing in all 8 governorates of Lebanon gave their consent to participate. 3. Data Analysis: Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 26.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA).
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations of the study: The present study has a few limitations. Since the survey was propagated solely in an electronic version, the elderly in our sample were less represented than younger age groups. Moreover, participants were required to self-report their previous vaccination records thus we were unable to double check their accuracy. These rates might not accurately translate in reality for this winter because of the possible lack of influenza vaccines in Lebanon or simply because the participants changed their mind after completing the survey. In spite of all these mentioned limitations, our sample included a considerable number of individuals, of different adult ages, with different educational backgrounds, and most importantly from all 8 governorates in Lebanon to represent as close as possible the general population.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.02.10.21251392 on medRxiv