Healthcare professionals can help combat vaccination hesitancy

Editor's Note

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national survey analysis found that a recommendation from a healthcare provider may help increase COVID-19 vaccination rates, according to a February 8 report in JAMA.

The survey, analyzed in the December 17, 2021, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, titled “Report of Health Care Provider Recommendation for COVID-19 Vaccination Among Adults, by Recipient COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Attitudes,” was held between April and September 2021 and included responses from 340,543 adults around the US. About 78% of participants who said that a healthcare professional advised them to get vaccinated had gotten one or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 62% of participants said a healthcare provider had not recommended the vaccinations.

Results also show an uptick in the number of healthcare professionals offering advice in favor of vaccination against COVID-19. According to JAMA, some 41% of the adults surveyed between late August and late September 2021 had received a recommendation to get vaccinated, which is up from the nearly 35% who 4 months earlier reported receiving recommendations to get vaccinated.

Clinician recommendations also reportedly influenced groups showing lower vaccination rates, including young adults, people living in rural areas, and people whose employers did not mandate vaccination. The study’s CDC authors, upon analyzing the areas where fewer clinicians recommended vaccination, suggested that “disparities in healthcare access may lessen patients’ opportunities to obtain vaccination guidance from a trusted clinician.”