may be vaccine misinformation undermine immunize

Likewise, 90% of physicians agreed that vaccines are effective, and 89% agreed that vaccines are important. In addition, our results suggest that PCPs’ views toward vaccines are overwhelmingly positive – 88% of physicians agreed or strongly agreed that vaccines in general are safe. We found that only 5.2% of PCPs were unvaccinated against COVID at the time of our survey, echoing the findings of the American Medical Association’s June 2021 survey. On the surface, our results provide some reassuring news for using physicians as leading vaccine promoters. These included political ideology, previous infection with COVID-19, religiosity and standard demographics like gender, race, ethnicity and income. We also surveyed potential factors that could influence physician attitudes toward vaccines.

Respondents answered these questions on a scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” We also asked PCPs how much confidence they had in the safety of the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, which were each authorized for emergency use in the U.S. In May 2021, we asked 625 primary care physicians nationwide about their general attitudes toward vaccines and whether they believed vaccines are safe, effective and important. Physician Vaccine Confidence Is A Mixed Bag Our recent study found that the same factors thought to encourage hesitancy in the general public – like having right-leaning political views – might also motivate physician opposition to vaccination.

While groups like AAPS do not represent the views of most physicians, these examples raise an important question: Just how prevalent is physician vaccine hesitancy, and why might some physicians hold negative views toward vaccines?Īs political science and health policy researchers studying vaccine hesitancy, we wanted to answer this question. The group has also taken legal action to encourage parental noncompliance with childhood vaccine mandates, using misinterpreted data to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are uniquely dangerous compared to other vaccines. One conservative group of doctors called the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, which counts Republican Senator and ophthalmologist Rand Paul among its members, offers several examples of how some physicians actively promote vaccine skepticism.įollowing the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak, AAPS shared a press release falsely linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism in children, a claim based on fraudulent research that the scientific community has widely discredited. Some patients have also reported that their personal physicians discouraged them from getting vaccinated on both medical and non-medical grounds. Though the American Medical Association found that 96% of physicians reported being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in June 2021, some high-profile physicians have spread misinformation about vaccine safety. Correspondingly, both popular media and public health officials have encouraged physicians to serve as strong advocates for COVID-19 vaccination.Īt the same time, however, there have been several cases of doctors expressing skepticism about vaccines in the media. But many people across the political spectrum still place high levels of trust in their personal physicians. American attitudes toward scientific expertise have become increasingly contentious in recent years.

May be vaccine misinformation undermine immunize