--- title: Healthcare Professionals tags: live-v0.1, communication, trust permalink: https://c19vax.scibeh.org/pages/healthpros --- <!---{%hackmd FnZFg00yRhuCcufU_HBc1w %}---> {%hackmd 5iAEFZ5HRMGXP0SGHjFm-g %} {%hackmd GHtBRFZdTV-X1g8ex-NMQg %} # The importance of healthcare professionals Healthcare professionals' acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines is important mainly for two reasons: * because vaccines protect them, their families, friends, patients and community, and * because their recommendation is key to encouraging others to vaccinate, including other health professionals, friends, family, patients, and the general public. The majority of the public trust and want to receive information from the healthcare professionals they see (e.g., doctors), making healthcare professionals a highly infuential source. It is therefore important to address concerns about vaccinations among healthcare professionals. ## The challenge Healthcare professionals tend to have lower vaccination intentions than the general public (e.g., with regard to influenza vaccines). The same is true for vaccination against COVID-19, as can be seen on this graph from a German [study](https://projekte.uni-erfurt.de/cosmo2020/web/topic/impfung/10-impfungen/) where people working in the health sector (red) have lower intentions to get vaccinated as compared to the public (blue). Only half of them [stated](https://projekte.uni-erfurt.de/cosmo2020/web/topic/impfung/20-fokuserhebung/#impfempfehlung-durch-%C3%A4rzte) that they would recommend the vaccination if someone asked them. ![](https://i.imgur.com/v3W4JbB.png) Additionally, the vaccine uptake rate was significantly lower for younger female healthcare workers from ethnic minority groups living in more deprived areas([Martin et al., 2021](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.11.21251548v2.full.pdf))---the reasons for this are complex, and [often relate to a longer history of discrimination against these groups](https://c19vax.scibeh.org/pages/vaxculture). Hesitant healthcare workers were generally worried about unknown risks, insufficient data, and side effects ([Meyer et al., 2021](https://psyarxiv.com/ge6uh/)). For example, although the vaccines went through [rigorous testing processes](https://c19vax.scibeh.org/pages/vaxprocess), staff in skilled nursing facilities reported concerns about the speed of vaccine development (e.g., [Berry et al., 2021](10.1111/jgs.17136), [Harrison et al., 2021](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.03.012)). In the UK this has had an impact on [7% of frontline health workers](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56291564) who have not received the vaccine. This equates to 80,000 unvaccinated healthcare workers, resulting in debates about whether the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandatory for frontline healthcare staff (see our page on [vaccine mandates](https://c19vax.scibeh.org/pages/vaxmandates) for updates about vaccine mandates). Further information about vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers can be found in a [report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/media/en/publications/Publications/vaccine-hesitancy-among-healthcare-workers.pdf). ## Personal protection and beyond If you are a healthcare professional, especially if you care for COVID-19 patients, your protection is extremely important not only for yourself but also for your patients, because you can keep caring for them. If many healthcare professionals contracted COVID-19 at the same time, the pressure on health care facilities would likely become overwhelming. For that reason, healthcare professionals are being prioritized for the vaccines in many countries. **See also: [CDC on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare professionals](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/hcp.html)** ## Encouraging others to vaccinate If you are a healthcare professional your recommendation and your example are likely to affect the attitudes and decisions of many other people. <span style="color:green"> Up to 11% of people who used to be hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines were encouraged by their doctors or other healthcare workers to be vaccinated and subsequently did get a COVID-19 vaccination. </span> As the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention put it: > "Healthcare workers are considered to be the most trusted source of vaccine-related information for patients. They are in the best position to understand hesitant patients, to respond to their worries and concerns, and to find ways of explaining to them the benefits of vaccination". [ECDC, 2015](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/media/en/publications/Publications/vaccine-hesitancy-among-healthcare-workers.pdf) The lack of a recommendation by healthcare professionals is an important barrier to vaccination in general (e.g., for childhood vaccinations [Smith et al., 2017](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.09.046)); <span style="color:green"> for mothers of new-born babies [Mereu et al., 2020](https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/8/4/701/htm ).)</span> Trust in medical and scientific experts is a positive predictor of willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., [Kerr et al., 2020](DOI:10.1101/2020.12.09.20246439)). Pharmacists have also played an important role in increasing the vaccination rate in lower-income areas with a high COVID-19 transmission rates, as they are often more accessible healthcare professionals (e.g., [Poudel et al., 2019](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.08.060)). :::warning See also [our page about trust in scientists](https://hackmd.io/@scibehC19vax/trust_scientists)). ::: Leading by example may also contribute to reducing hesitancy through social influences, including normative beliefs (what it is deemed to be the norm) and perceived social approval of vaccination. Conversations and education are vital in encouraging those who may be hesitant to vaccinate. An effective way for healthcare professionals to encourage their patients to vaccinate is to consider the [6 representative and common cognitive styles](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21001547) that individuals use to make decisions about their acceptance or rejection of the COVID-19 vaccine. This educational-based effort requires healthcare professionals to determine and adapt to their patients cognitive style in order to present information through conversations that aim to encourage their acceptance of the vaccine. :::success **See an [illustrated example](https://www.instagram.com/p/CLR79jUgfty/) for using an active listening approach to communicate about the COVID-19 vaccine, vs. a traditional ["directing" approach](https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFEU0GAghu/).** ::: [Motivational Interviewing](https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/reports-publications/canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2020-46/issue-4-april-2-2020/ccdrv46i04a06-eng.pdf) has been a powerful tool in combatting vaccine hesitancy amongst the masses. Taking such an approach allows individuals to implement change in their behaviour whilst maintaining their own approach to the issue. A focus is put on informing people about vaccinations based on their existing needs and knowledge. Asif Merchant, a doctor in a Boston nursing home, emphasises the importance and efficacy of conversations in the effort to encourage vaccination. Though they may be time consuming he says, [‘they’re worth it’](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nursing-home-skip-vaccine/2021/02/12/4d31d17a-6bfa-11eb-9f80-3d7646ce1bc0_story.html). He has seen a change in many of his coworkers attitudes towards the vaccine after speaking to them directly and spending time understanding their reason for hesitancy. Therefore, recommending the COVID-19 vaccine and leading by example are likely to increase vaccine acceptance in the general public, as well as among colleagues and other healthcare professionals. :::success Would you like to find out more about the importance of health care professionals for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance? We created a search query specifically for this page, which links you to other interesting resources like Twitter threads, blogposts, websites, videos and more. Check out the search query that we generated specifically for this page [here](https://hypothes.is/groups/Jk8bYJdN/behsci?q=vaccine+doctor). Would you like to know more about how we generated the search queries and how our underlying knowledge base works? Click [here](https://hackmd.io/B3R70tuNTiGy6wi9HObuSQ) to learn more. ::: ---- <sub>Page contributors: Teresa Gavaruzzi, Cornelia Betsch, Stephan Lewandowsky, Sophia Sterckx, Shiqi Lu, Dawn Holford</sub> {%hackmd GHtBRFZdTV-X1g8ex-NMQg %} {%hackmd TLvrFXK3QuCTATgnMJ2rng %} {%hackmd oTcI4lFnS12N2biKAaBP6w %}