gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The COVID-19 disease has spread globally since December 2019. The German federal authority for identification, surveillance and prevention of infectious diseases, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), published early in the pandemic hygiene recommendations for the general population. Vaccination against influenza and pneumococcal disease is strongly recommended by both DGRh and EULAR. Despite these recommendations the vaccination rates are unsatisfactory. In addition, surveys indicate that individuals vaccinated against influenza may have a lower risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 than unvaccinated people.

Methods: We employed questionnaires to evaluate i) the uptake for the influenza and pneumococcal vaccines at the beginning of the pandemic and ii) the compliance with the hygiene recommendation issued by RKI (i.e. social distancing, wearing a face mask, avoiding of groups, frequent washing of hands and staying home). Information on demographic, disease and comorbidities relevant for the estimation of the compliance with COVID-19 containment measures were included in the questionnaires. The assessment of difficulty to comply with RKI recommendations was tested on a Likert scale with 5 possible answers.

Results: 557 patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease (CIRD) were interviewed by phone between April and July 2020. The cohort consisted of 61.9% females with a median age of 55 (47-63) and disease duration 9.0 (4.5-17.0) years. The patients were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (41.1%), axial spondyloarthritis (31.2%), psoriasis arthritis (20.1%), and connective tissue diseases (7.5%). A history of vaccination against pneumococcal disease was reported by 276 (61.3%) and against influenza by 267 patients (55.3%), respectively. More than 90% of patients followed COVID-19 prevention measures rigorously. 14.2% admitted that compliance with these measures was rather or very hard. Up to 61.7% of patients indicated that they regularly spent less than 2 hours per day away from home.

Conclusion: The vaccine uptake exceeded rates previously reported, however remaining still unsatisfactorily. Whether this surge was due to the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be established. Future strategies should be developed to increase the vaccination rates in patients with CIRD.

Patients with CIRD protected themselves by strictly adhering to hygiene recommendations. The high compliance requested apparently minimal efforts from the CIRD patients.

Disclosures: None declared