Nearly three in four older adults surveyed said they’d be interested in getting a hypothetical vaccine that significantly cuts their chances of developing dementia, according to the results of a survey published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
Dementia, characterized by progressive decline in cognitive function, is not infectious. Scientists have found no dementia-causing pathogen that spreads person to person.
However, as the study notes, there’s ongoing research into immunotherapies and even vaccine-based approaches to delay or reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia. Also, some vaccines, including the shingles vaccine, are associated with lower rates of dementia: One of the theories is that illness caused by infectious disease can result in long-term health complications that increase the risk of developing the condition.
To glean how willing people might be to get a dementia-preventing shot, researchers surveyed 1,529 US residents aged 50 or older. People were told to assume a hypothetical vaccine could reduce the risk of dementia by half for those who were at high risk of developing the condition.
“We designed the scenario to give respondents a concrete and understandable way to think about a potential future vaccine, while also grounding it in emerging research,” lead author J. Felipe Montano-Campos, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, told CIDRAP News.
Most responded that they were very open to getting such a vaccine: 34% selected “definitely yes,” 21% said “very likely,” and 17% chose “likely,” for a 72% favorable response rate.
There was some demographic variation in the survey results. Men were more likely than women to say they were interested in a vaccine, and Black respondents were more hesitant than white or Hispanic respondents.
Also, the older the respondents were, the more likely they were to want a dementia-preventing vaccine. This arguably makes sense, as the rate of dementia increases with age, with 13.1% of people 85 or older having the diagnosis, according to a 2024 report by the National Center for Health Statistics based on data from 2022.
Though results are promising, surveys don’t show proof
Interestingly, 21% of survey respondents said they weren’t sure they would get the vaccine, while a mere 7% said they were either “unlikely,” “very unlikely,” or “definitely no.”
These responses suggest that “uncertainty rather than opposition may be the principal barrier to adoption,” the authors said.
While it’s encouraging that most survey participants rated themselves at least somewhat likely to get a yet-to-be-created dementia vaccine, responses to a survey can be “cheap talk,” cautioned Gretchen Chapman, PhD, a psychologist who studies decision-making within the context of vaccines at Carnegie Mellon University.
“We don’t know how many would actually get such a vaccine,” said Chapman, who wasn’t involved in the study.
The authors acknowledge that the survey asks hypothetical questions that may not fully capture clinical decision-making. They argue, however, that the findings suggest a need for targeted communication and engagement to ensure equitable vaccine uptake.