Vaccine-Skeptic Physicians and COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

Andreas Steinmayr and Manuel Rossi
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Manuel Rossi: University of Innsbruck

No 15730, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: What is the role of general practitioners (GPs) in supporting or hindering public health efforts? We investigate the influence of vaccine-skeptic GPs on their patients' decisions to get a COVID-19 vaccination. We identify vaccine-skeptic GPs from the signatories of an open letter in which 199 Austrian physicians expressed their skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines. We examine small rural municipalities where patients choose a GP primarily based on geographic proximity. These vaccine-skeptic GPs reduced the vaccination rate by 5.6 percentage points. This estimate implies that they discouraged 7.9% of the vaccinable population. The effect appears to stem from discouragement rather than from rationing access to the vaccine.

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy; vaccination; COVID-19; health policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2022-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Published - published as 'Vaccine-skeptic physicians and patient vaccination decisions' in: Health Economics , 2024, 33 (3), 509-525

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Working Paper: Vaccine-skeptic physicians and COVID-19 vaccination rates (2022)
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