Vaccine‐skeptic physicians and patient vaccination decisions

Andreas Steinmayr and Manuel Rossi

Health Economics, 2024, vol. 33, issue 3, 509-525

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 rationing vaccine access.

Date: 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4781

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:33:y:2024:i:3:p:509-525

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