A new survey, published last week online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, found that almost 60% of people working in a large healthcare system expressed their intent to receive a COVID vaccine; however, but about one-third were suspicious of doing so.
The survey also found that 54% of direct healthcare providers were willing to take the vaccine if offered, compared to 60% of non-healthcare providers.
The corresponding author of the survey Dr. Jana Shaw told Medscape Medical News, “We have shown that self-reported willingness to receive vaccination against COVID-19 differs by age, gender, race, and hospital role, with physicians and research scientists showing the highest acceptance.”
“Building trust in authorities and confidence in vaccines is a complex and time-consuming process that requires commitment and resources,” she added. “We have to make those investments as hesitancy can severely undermine vaccination coverage. Because healthcare providers are members of our communities, it is possible that their views are shared by the public at large.”
“Our findings can assist public health professionals as a starting point of discussion and engagement with communities to ensure that we vaccinate at least 80% of the public to end the pandemic,” Dr. Shaw said.
Of all survey participants, 58% expressed their intent to get either Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Of those, 80% of physicians and researchers agree to receive a vaccine if it was offered free of charge, while some of their colleagues were unsure about taking it.
“This was a really surprising finding,” Dr. Shaw said. “In general, one would expect that perceived severity of disease would lead to a greater desire to get vaccinated. Because our question did not address the severity of the disease, it is possible that we oversampled respondents who took care of patients with mild disease (in an outpatient setting). This could have led to an underestimation of disease severity and resulted in lower vaccination intent.”
Those who were suspicious of taking the vaccine were concern about adverse events, efficacy, rushed release, safety, and the research and authorization process, according to Medscape.
Dr. Shaw explained, “I think it is important that fellow clinicians recognize that in order to boost vaccine confidence we will need careful, individually tailored communication strategies.”
“A consideration should be given to those [strategies] that utilize interpersonal channels that deliver leadership by example, and leverage influencers in the institution to encourage wider adoption of vaccination,” she added.
The article was originally published Monday on Medscape Medical News.
