Understanding how well being care suppliers can immediate vaccine uptake

Key takeaways:

• Vaccine hesitancy may be addressed with doctor suggestions which are tailor-made to a affected person’s particular person stage of hesitancy.
• Unvaccinated people want unbiased info on vaccines from suppliers.

WASHINGTON — There are alternative ways to advertise vaccination, and provider-patient communication is a significant element to addressing vaccine hesitancy, based on a presentation on the American Thoracic Society Worldwide Convention.

“(There are) a number of levers for growing vaccination, which might actually map to totally different ranges within the well being care ecosystem, with vaccine necessities on the well being coverage stage, on-site vaccine availability in physician’s workplaces on the well being care system stage, after which right down to the significance of provider-patient communication,” Kimberly A. Fisher, MD, MSc, affiliate professor of medication and pulmonary essential care at UMass Chan Medical Faculty, mentioned through the presentation.

In a vignette-based experimental survey, Fisher and colleagues evaluated 756 people in January 2021 who reported that they’re both undecided or don’t plan to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine to find out if messages from a well being care supplier on vaccination positively influence a affected person’s intent to be vaccinated.

People who participated on this survey have been requested to place themselves right into a hypothetical state of affairs, Fisher mentioned.

“On this group (of vaccine-hesitant people), we requested (them) to think about that they have been at a go to with their physician for an everyday checkup,” Fisher mentioned. “On the finish of the appointment, the physician mentioned we have now the COVID-19 vaccine accessible, you’re eligible to get it. It’s very secure and really efficient. At this level, the individuals have been randomly assigned to obtain one in all 5 totally different extra messages from their well being care supplier, after which we reassessed their vaccination intent.”

In keeping with Fisher, every of the 4 persuasive messages have been written to the touch on issues relating to the COVID-19 vaccine: “I’ve reviewed the research rigorously,” “This vaccine is as secure because the flu vaccine, and it’s MORE efficient,” “Hundreds of thousands of individuals have already gotten it,” and “It’s one of the simplest ways to guard the individuals you might be near.” Following every message was the assertion, “I like to recommend that you just get it,” in addition to, “What do you suppose?”

When evaluating what number of individuals grew to become much less vaccine hesitant, Fisher and colleagues discovered that the affect of the totally different messages didn’t considerably differ inside the “undecided” group; nonetheless, they did discover that the message “It’s one of the simplest ways to guard the individuals you might be near and hold them wholesome” led to a major enhance (P = .03) in vaccine intent within the group that mentioned they don’t plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I believe these findings actually help … the necessity for tailor-made communication based on the diploma of hesitancy, and it additionally suggests {that a} prosocial message could also be one of many simpler messages among the many extra hesitant people,” Fisher mentioned.

Studying affected person, supplier issues

Along with this survey research, Fisher was concerned in a spotlight group research, wherein 35 COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant people voiced their ideas on communication with their supplier.

Earlier than presenting these affected person responses, Fisher mentioned well being care suppliers ought to hold a number of issues in thoughts when speaking to sufferers who’re vaccine hesitant primarily based on what was heard from sufferers on this research, together with that they’re skeptical of knowledge associated to the COVID-19 vaccine, they’ve bother navigating info that conflicts with different info and so they could really feel stigmatized for his or her unvaccinated standing.

Fisher mentioned, “One individual mentioned, ‘There’s loads of shaming. It’s throughout social media. Individuals are very hateful in direction of those who aren’t vaccinated.’”

When it comes to what unvaccinated sufferers need from their suppliers when they’re speaking about vaccines with them, three important needs emerged. Fisher mentioned these sufferers want detailed and unbiased info, don’t need to really feel like they’re being “power fed” info and want that they’re being listened to and understood.

To listen to each the affected person and supplier sides, 40 major care physicians participated in focus teams, to which Fisher mentioned 4 frequent experiences have been introduced up when serious about how they convey with vaccine-hesitant sufferers. Within the focus teams, PCPs expressed that this group of sufferers don’t appear open to info, which in flip made them query their trustworthiness, shorten the time they spent speaking with these sufferers about vaccines and really feel pissed off.

Different methods to advertise vaccination

Though well being care supplier suggestions play a task in getting people vaccinated, it is very important perceive that there are different methods to advertise this motion, based on Fisher.

In a survey that requested people the place they’d need to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine, Fisher and colleagues discovered that 683 people (42%) mentioned a health care provider’s workplace, of which extra people with a “undecided” intent to get vaccinated answered with this location than sufferers with an accepting intent. Additional, in contrast with Latino or white people, extra Black people most well-liked to get the vaccine in a health care provider’s workplace, and this was present in each these with an accepting intent and people with a hesitant intent.

“We predict that COVID-19 vaccine availability at physician’s workplaces could also be an vital lever to extend uptake amongst vaccine-hesitant people and in addition members of racial minority groups,” Fisher mentioned.

To wrap up her presentation, Fisher shared preliminary findings from a research that sought to grasp the explanation for which 51 people vaccinated after April 2022 selected to get vaccinated. In keeping with Fisher, many of those people have been vaccinated as a result of it was required as a way to do one thing, reminiscent of get a job or journey.