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Sunday, October 20, 2024

Healthcare Providers on Vaccines and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread   Examples include measlesCOVID, flu, and polio.

number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.

Amanda L. Eiden, Sheila Drakeley, Kushal Modi, deMauri Mackie, Alexandra Bhatti, Anthony DiFranzo, "Attitudes and beliefs of healthcare providers toward vaccination in the United States: A cross-sectional online survey," Vaccine, Volume 42, Issue 26, 2024, 126437, ISSN 0264-410X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.126437 .  Abstract:

Background

Healthcare providers' (HCPs') beliefs and practices regarding vaccination influence vaccine acceptance in patients.

Objective

To describe HCPs' beliefs and practices regarding vaccines and perceptions of patient perspectives related to vaccine hesitancy.

Methods

This was a non-interventional, cross-sectional, online survey administered to 1213 HCPs based in the United States from December 2021 through January 2022. HCPs provided responses regarding their demographic and professional characteristics, beliefs about vaccine safety and effectiveness, vaccination practices, and their views regarding patients' willingness to receive vaccination.

Results

Study participants included doctors (55.4 %); physician assistants (11.2 %); pharmacists (11.7 %); nurse practitioners (11.1 %); and registered nurses (10.6 %) from across the United States (West, 35.6 %; Midwest, 27.0 %; South, 25.6 %; Northeast, 11.9 %). HCPs belonged to group practices or clinics (34.5 %), private practices (31.9 %), hospital-based practices (21.9 %), or pharmacies (11.7 %). Most HCPs strongly believed it was their duty to promote vaccination (78.1 %) and used in-person conversations to educate patients about vaccines (85.0 %); 95.1 % had been vaccinated against COVID-19. HCPs reported that 54.9 % of patients accept all vaccines without hesitation, 21.0 % accept all vaccines but hesitate, 16.8 % accept only select vaccines, and 7.2 % reject all vaccines. Reasons commonly cited by patients for being hesitant to accept vaccines or refusal included negative media (hesitancy: 64.6 %; refusal: 73.2 %), the influence of friends or family (hesitancy: 60.5 %; refusal: 68.7 %), distrust of the government (hesitancy: 45.8 %; refusal: 68.4 %), concerns over long-term side effects (hesitancy: 56.1 %; refusal: 68.3 %), and worries about vaccine-related autism or infertility (hesitancy: 49.7 %; refusal: 71.9 %). HCPs reported that the largest contributors to vaccine misinformation among patients were social media (91.0 %), celebrities/TV personalities (63.5 %), and mass media (61.1 %).