National Survey Concerning Vaccination Against COVID-19 in Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care Units

The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge for the French healthcare system, particularly among the elderly due to their particular vulnerability to the serious consequences of the disease, with an estimated mortality rate of around 30-35% among the frail elderly. The management of the health crisis could take a new turn in 2021 with the arrival in France of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The objectives of this vaccination campaign are to reduce the morbi-mortality attributable to COVID-19 on the one hand, and to maintain essential activities related to the functioning of the country on the other hand and in particular the health system.

However, the distrust of vaccination, traditionally strong in France, could have a negative impact on this strategy. While the President of the Republic announced on November 24, 2020 that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 would not be made compulsory, almost one French person in two declared in several surveys that they did not want to be vaccinated; the main criterion for acceptance of vaccination being advanced age (the older they are, the more French people declare accepting to be vaccinated).

In view of the gradual vaccine supply schedule for the year 2021, the French National Authority for Health established at the end of 2020 a prioritization by vaccine availability phases. The critical initial supply phase,which is currently taking place, is the one during which residents of retirement home and long-term care units are prioritized because of their particular vulnerability (age and co-morbidities) and their increased exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

For these reasons, and in order to carry out the current vaccination campaign in the most optimal way possible, this national survey is launching to evaluate the acceptance rate of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine among people living in retirement homes and long-term care units, to understand the mechanisms of acceptance or rejection, and to draw up an initial large-scale inventory of the symptoms observed following vaccination.