Vaccine Acceptance among travelers directed to areas with risk of dengue: a pilot study.

Introduction: Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease that causes a million of cases every year (including deaths). A tetravalent live-attenuated virus vaccine is available for this infection. The aim of our work was to study vaccine acceptance, attitudes and behaviors among travelers heading to areas with risk of dengue.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in February-April 2024 at the Travel Medicine Clinic of Rozzano (Italy), focusing on travelers directed to areas with risk of dengue. We collected the following information anonymously: travel destination, reason for travel, date/month of departure, length of stay, and accepted/refused vaccinations.

Results: 58 travelers were included in our study and they chose 23 countries for their travel with a mean length of stay of 16.98 days. Five (8.62%) refused dengue vaccination because they considered the vaccination not necessary (80%), or for its cost (20%). There was no statistically significant difference between men and women in vaccination acceptance. Age and length of stay did not influence the percentage of refusals.

Conclusions: Although the results are limited by the small number of travelers, they highlighted the problem of vaccine hesitancy among travelers, and further efforts are needed to address this phenomenon.