Implementing education: Personal communication with a healthcare professional is a critical step to address vaccine hesitancy for people with multiple sclerosis.

M G Panisset, T Kilpatrick, L E Cofré Lizama, M P Galea

Open access · bronzeAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Multiple sclerosis and related disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

3citing papers in PubMed

1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 26% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

Guidelines on Immunization of People with Chronic Neurological Disorders: A Systematic Review.Vaccines · 2026
Review
Factors Affecting Vaccine Attitudes Influenced by the COVID-19 Pandemic.Vaccines · 2023
Review
COVID-19 Vaccine Status, Intent, Hesitancy, and Disease-Related Beliefs in People with Multiple Sclerosis.Vaccines · 2023
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

M G PanissetDepartment of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Clinical Sciences Building 601, Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia. Electronic address: maya.panisset@unimelb.edu.au.

T KilpatrickDepartment of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Clinical Sciences Building 601, Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia; MS Unit, Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, 300 Grattan St, Melbourne, VIC 3050, Australia; Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne Brain Centre, Level 5, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.

L E Cofré LizamaDepartment of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Clinical Sciences Building 601, Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia; School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia.

M P GaleaDepartment of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Clinical Sciences Building 601, Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia; Department of Rehabilitation, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Royal Park Campus, 34-45 Poplar Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Australia Australian Rehabilitation Research Centre, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Royal Park Campus, 34-45 Poplar Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital · AUThe University of Melbourne · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPeople with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) were first able to access COVID-19 vaccines in Australia from March 2021, when vaccine hesitancy in the general population was high (14-43%). High uptake of vaccination is important globally and critical to protect this vulnerable population. We conducted an on-line survey to examine factors influencing COVID-19 vaccination willingness among PwMS in Australia.

methods149 PwMS living in Australia completed the on-line survey (April-September 2021) examining demographic, environmental and clinical factors with respect to vaccine willingness, including attitudes towards COVID-19 illness and vaccines. Additional items explored the influence of different information sources on vaccination decisions. Continuous and ordinal data were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. All tests were two-tailed, with alpha set at 0.5.

resultsA majority of the respondents were female (87.2%) with relapsing-remitting MS (77.5%) treated by a neurologist (94.0%). A majority were on high efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) (64.9%), while 19.9% were on no DMTs. About one third of respondents (32.9%) had had two doses, 20.8% had received their first dose, and 22.1% were unvaccinated, while 24.2% of responses were missing. When asked about vaccine intentions, 60.6% of the unvaccinated indicated they were likely to extremely likely to get vaccinated, while 15.2% were very unlikely or extremely unlikely to do so and 24.2% were undecided. Unvaccinated people were significantly more concerned about vaccine side effects (mean 5.3 versus 3.1/10; p < .001). Only 53.3% of people on DMTs were vaccinated, compared to 75% of those who were not. People on ocrelizumab therapy (n = 35) had a lower vaccination rate (39%) than those on other medications (n = 86, 59%). Vaccine willingness in the unvaccinated was most highly correlated with knowledge regarding the vaccine (r

conclusionOur study highlights that vaccination efforts should be delivered by healthcare professionals, focus on educating those who are managed with DMTs, and include individual recommendations related to specific DMTs, how the vaccines work, expectations regarding potential side-effects, potential exacerbation of MS symptoms, likelihood of recovery from any exacerbation, and the relative risks of side effects versus COVID-19 infection. Specific recommendations are provided.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 VaccinesMultiple SclerosisVaccinationVaccination HesitancyAustraliaCommunicationFemaleHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansMaleProfessional-Patient RelationsCOVID-19 Vaccines

Identifiers

PMID35671672

DOI10.1016/j.msard.2022.103933

PMCPMC9158244

OpenAlexW4281787390

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.