Department of Economics, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Nature. 2022 Jun;606(7914):542-549. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04805-y. Epub 2022 Jun 1.
The reluctance of people to get vaccinated represents a fundamental challenge to containing the spread of deadly infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Identifying misperceptions that can fuel vaccine hesitancy and creating effective communication strategies to overcome them are a global public health priority. Medical doctors are a trusted source of advice about vaccinations, but media reports may create an inaccurate impression that vaccine controversy is prevalent among doctors, even when a broad consensus exists. Here we show that public misperceptions about the views of doctors on the COVID-19 vaccines are widespread, and correcting them increases vaccine uptake. We implement a survey among 9,650 doctors in the Czech Republic and find that 90% of doctors trust the vaccines. Next, we show that 90% of respondents in a nationally representative sample (n = 2,101) underestimate doctors' trust; the most common belief is that only 50% of doctors trust the vaccines. Finally, we integrate randomized provision of information about the true views held by doctors into a longitudinal data collection that regularly monitors vaccination status over 9 months. The treatment recalibrates beliefs and leads to a persistent increase in vaccine uptake. The approach demonstrated in this paper shows how the engagement of professional medical associations, with their unparalleled capacity to elicit individual views of doctors on a large scale, can help to create a cheap, scalable intervention that has lasting positive impacts on health behaviour.
人们对接种疫苗的不情愿，是控制包括 COVID-19 在内的致命传染病传播的一个根本挑战。确定可能助长疫苗犹豫的误解，并制定有效的沟通策略来克服这些误解，是全球公共卫生的一个优先事项。医生是接种疫苗建议的可靠来源，但媒体报道可能会造成一种不准确的印象，即疫苗争议在医生中很普遍，即使存在广泛的共识。在这里，我们表明，公众对接种 COVID-19 疫苗的医生观点存在广泛的误解，纠正这些误解可以提高疫苗接种率。我们在捷克共和国的 9650 名医生中实施了一项调查，发现 90%的医生信任疫苗。接下来，我们表明，在一个具有全国代表性的样本（n=2101）中，90%的受访者低估了医生的信任程度；最常见的信念是只有 50%的医生信任疫苗。最后，我们将关于医生真实观点的信息随机纳入一个纵向数据收集，该数据在 9 个月内定期监测疫苗接种情况。这种治疗方法重新校准了人们的信念，并导致疫苗接种率持续上升。本文所展示的方法表明，专业医疗协会的参与，以及它们在大规模获取医生个人观点方面无与伦比的能力，如何能够帮助创造一种廉价、可扩展的干预措施，对健康行为产生持久的积极影响。
