Perceptions of physicians’ views on COVID-19 vaccines. A sample of the Czech adult population (n = 2,101). a, Distribution of respondents’ previous beliefs about what percentage of doctors would like to be vaccinated. b, Distribution of respondents’ beliefs about what percentage of physicians trust COVID-19 approved vaccines. The dashed line shows the actual value, based on the physicians’ responses to the complementary study. The colors red and blue show the percentage of those who underestimate and overestimate, respectively, the vaccination intentions of the doctors themselves (a) and rely on COVID-19 (b) vaccines. Credit: Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038 / s41586-022-04805-i
A new research study shows that the public’s misperceptions about doctors’ opinions about COVID-19 vaccinations reduce the willingness to get vaccinated. The study documents that the vast majority of doctors in the Czech Republic trust and support vaccination, but that there is a widespread belief among the public that doctors’ opinions are divided and that only half trust vaccines.
Informing people that there is a broad positive consensus among physicians persistently increases public adoption of vaccination. Thus, effectively communicating the real opinions of physicians can play an important role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was published in the most recent issue of Nature. The authors of the study conducted extensive questionnaire surveys to identify the views of the medical community on COVID-19 vaccination and then surveyed public perceptions of physicians’ views. Finally, they examined the effect of providing information on physicians ‘actual opinions about individuals’ decisions to be vaccinated.
“We have found that clearly communicating the strong consensus on the benefits of vaccination among physicians is a cheap way to persistently increase interest in vaccination,” says CERGE co-author of the study, Michal Bauer. -The Prague. The first survey took place in February 2021 among Czech doctors in all parts of the country. It focused on identifying physicians’ views on approved COVID-19 vaccines. Of the 10,000 doctors surveyed, 90% trusted the vaccines.
In addition, 90% had already been vaccinated themselves or had planned to do so. Up to 95% of physicians said they would recommend vaccinations to their healthy patients. However, the majority of the Czech public was unaware of this consensus in the medical community. This was discovered thanks to the second survey, which took place as part of a Life during the Pandemic survey conducted in collaboration with PAQ Research 2, which involved 2,101 respondents. Respondents estimated what percentage of doctors trusted vaccines and wanted to get vaccinated themselves. About 90% of the public sample underestimated the level of support for vaccination within the medical community. On average, people thought that only about 60% of doctors trusted approved vaccines and that only about 57% of doctors wanted to get vaccinated themselves.
In March 2021, half of the randomly selected respondents received correct information about doctors ’opinions about vaccination, meaning that 90% trust vaccines. The other half of the respondents did not receive this information. This allowed researchers to reliably estimate the role that knowledge of the real opinions of the medical community plays in the willingness to be vaccinated. Over the next nine months, investigators monitored respondents to see if they were vaccinated.
The information provided not only corrected misconceptions about physicians’ views on vaccination, but also increased vaccine adoption by 4.5 percentage points. Therefore, the percentage of people who chose not to get vaccinated decreased by up to 20%. “The effect on vaccination was stable and lasting. Even a single supply of information increased the absorption of the vaccine for at least 9 months, and also increased the demand for the third dose,” explains the co-author. from the Julie Chytilová study at Charles University in Prague.
The study’s authors believe that the public’s misperceptions documented about the opinions of the medical community are likely caused by a journalistic norm, to offer the same time and space to opposing views on controversial topics covered in the media. This practice draws the attention of viewers and creates the appearance of an objective journalistic approach. However, it can distort society’s perceptions of the degree of disagreement between experts and undermine the ability to overcome society’s challenges.
“Therefore, journalists should try to provide information not only about differences of opinion between experts, but also about how different opinions are common,” says Chytilová. “The inaccurate public perception that experts are divided, although there is a broad consensus of fact, is very likely to be relevant in a number of other areas, such as the climate change debate, and may undermine social support. necessary to solve the fundamental problems. national and global problems “, adds Bauer. The lessons of this study probably apply to a number of other issues, and the current pandemic is just one example of a more general phenomenon.
1 in 10 U.S. doctors with reservations about vaccines could be undermining the fight against COVID-19. More information: Vojtěch Bartoš et al, Communicating physician consensus persistently increases COVID-19 vaccinations, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038 / s41586-022-04805-i
Contributed by CERGE-EI
Citation: Correcting Public Misconceptions About Physicians’ Opinions Persistently Increases Vaccinations Against COVID-19 (2022, June 2) Retrieved June 2, 2022
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