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We read with great interest the letter recently published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases by Priori et al,1 who carried out an online survey among patients with rheumatic diseases to explore their willingness to receive the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. An alarming high hesitancy was observed in nearly half of these patients.
This is particularly concerning as patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRDs) are regarded as at higher risk for developing severe COVID-19 and, for this reason, they should be vaccinated with priority.2 3
To date, four vaccines have been approved in Italy for COVID-19 but only three are currently available (ie, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca). Importantly, the European Alliance of Association for Rheumatology stated that all these vaccines can be used safely in patients with AIIRDs as well as in patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment.4 Similarly, the Italian Society of Rheumatology (Società Italiana di Reumatologia) produced a document (last update: 13 March 2021) to confirm the safety of all the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines for patients with AIIRDs.5
In recent weeks, AstraZeneca vaccine is undergoing an unprecedented media firestorm following reports on its possible association with venous thromboembolism.6 With this regard, the European Medicines Agency has stated that the overall benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects in the general population.7
Our aim was to explore the willingness to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccines among …
Footnotes
Handling editor Josef Smolen
GS and EC contributed equally.
Contributors GS and EC contributed to the conception of the work. GS, EC, EM, FF, AMR, VM, DZ, ADM, MDC, RDA, FS, EF and WG contributed to the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data. GS, EC and ADM have drafted the paper. All authors have approved the submitted version.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests MDC has received speaking fees from AbbVie and Novartis. FS has received speaking fees from Roche, AbbVie, Novartis, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Pfizer and Merck Sharp and Dohme Italia. EF has received speaking fees from AbbVie, BMS, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Pfizer and UCB Pharma. WG has received speaking fees from AbbVie, Celgene, Grünenthal, Pfizer and UCB Pharma. All other authors disclose no conflict of interest.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
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