What Prompts Doctors to Recommend COVID-19 Vaccines: Is It a Question of Positive Emotion?

Abstract

Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools and have greatly contributed to eliminating or controlling several serious vaccine-treatable diseases over the past century. To curb the spread of COVID-19, efficacious vaccination is emerging as essential in mitigating the disease and preventing deaths. Health care workers (HCW) are one of the first groups to receive vaccinations, so it is important to consider their attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination to better address barriers to widespread vaccination acceptance. This study aimed to evaluate variables that are linked with the recommendation of vaccines and intention to take-up vaccination against COVID-19 among the HCWs, in the context of the current pandemic. The study was conducted during the first week of the vaccination campaign dedicated to Italian HCWs, beginning in December 2020, and it involved all doctors in a public hospital in Sicily. The following questionnaires were administered: (1) The perceived vaccine trust questionnaire, measuring the degree of trust in vaccines by healthcare professionals both in general and for the protection of healthcare professionals themselves and patients; (2) the positive and negative affect scale-state (PANAS), for assessing positive and negative emotions in relation to their work as “frontline care providers”; (3) The locus of control of behaviour (LCB) to measure the extent to which subjects perceive responsibility for their personal behaviour (internal vs. external); (4) recommendation vaccines item, referring to the intention to recommend vaccination. The findings suggest that socio-demographic control variables (age, gender, and seniority) showed little or no predictive power in vaccine recommendation, while vaccine confidence, positive emotions, and internal locus of control were excellent predictors of vaccine recommendations by doctors. Younger doctors, both in age and experience, are more confident in vaccines and recommend them more frequently. It is essential to improve institutional communication addressed to doctors to enhance their role as vaccination facilitators.

Social media medical misinformation: impact on mental health and vaccination decision among university students

“…This was consistent with the findings of other studies conducted in countries such as Italy, Saudi Arabia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo [19][20][21]. It is owing to the high degree of knowledge in this sector, the awareness of how crucial vaccination and herd immunity are in mitigating the pandemic [22], as well as how important it is for them to get protected as front-liners in this pandemic, particularly susceptible to infection at their institutions. This could be an effective strategy for engaging people in vaccination because many patients communicate solely with their physicians and rely on their advice when it comes to health-related decisions, as demonstrated in the past with the HPV vaccine, where uptake was highly linked to HCP (health care professionals) recommendations [23].…”

Healthcare Workers Attitudes, Practices and Sources of Information for COVID-19 Vaccination: An Italian National Survey

“…This is in contrast with the overall ratio of hesitant healthcare workers (6.76%), which is higher; thus, there is a dichotomy between the courses of action healthcare providers would choose for themselves and for their patients. Furthermore, the only factor impacting both kinds of recommendation was hesitancy, which coheres with the findings of other studies, but surprisingly, only the advice for relatives was affected by the HCWs’ concern about COVID-19 [ 9 , 33 ]. This result may be due to the fact that the emotional dimension is a relevant issue in HCW’s decision-making process.…”

Attitude Towards COVID-19 Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review

“…The evidence was conclusive as a positive attitude was associated with a higher level of education. 15 , 53 , 57 …”

“…The reason may be due to the relatively good health-seeking behaviour of males and their valuing of advice about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines as supported and evidenced by different behavioural approach theories, including the theory of planned behaviour and the theory of reasoned action. [53][54][55][56] Additionally, being a medical professional (medical doctors, physicians, specialists) was related to a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccination. The evidence was conclusive as a positive attitude was associated with a higher level of education.…”

“…The evidence was conclusive as a positive attitude was associated with a higher level of education. 15,53,57 As a result of the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, healthcare workers may have a negative attitude toward the vaccine. Some people notice side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine such as pain or swelling, blood clotting, and headache.…”