SARS-CoV-2 vaccine hesitancy among patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. a message for rheumatologists

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines appear to be the most promising strategy for fighting the virus and protecting also those who might be at higher risk of severe COVID-19, such as patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). However, vaccine hesitancy might greatly impair the possibility to reach herd immunity and curtail the virus. As underlined by some studies performed before vaccine availability, a non-negligible proportion of subjects among the general population would have refused vaccination against COVID-19. During the first weeks of the ongoing vaccination campaign, we proposed an online survey to adult patients with RMDs residing in the Lazio region followed up at our tertiary referral centre in Rome, Italy. Healthy controls were recruited using the ‘best friend’ system. Participants had to report on eight different domains with two possible answers: ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Only for the item ‘Willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination’, answers were ‘yes’ or ‘no/don’t know’, with the possibility to give an explanation in case of a negative answer.