IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inn/wpaper/2022-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Vaccine-skeptic physicians and COVID-19 vaccination rates

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Steinmayr
  • Manuel Rossi

Abstract

What is the role of general practitioners (GPs) in supporting or hindering public health efforts? We investigate the influence of vaccine-skeptic GPs on their patients’ decisions to get a COVID-19 vaccination. We identify vaccine-skeptic GPs from the signatories of an open letter in which 199 Austrian physicians expressed their skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines. We examine small rural municipalities where patients choose a GP primarily based on geographic proximity. These vaccine-skeptic GPs reduced the vaccination rate by 5.6 percentage points. This estimate implies that they discouraged 7.9% of the vaccinable population. The effect appears to stem from discouragement rather than from rationing access to the vaccine.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Steinmayr & Manuel Rossi, 2022. "Vaccine-skeptic physicians and COVID-19 vaccination rates," Working Papers 2022-16, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2022-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.uibk.ac.at/downloads/c9821000/wpaper/2022-16.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Jörg Paetzold & Janine Kimpel & Katie Bates & Michael Hummer & Florian Krammer & Dorothee Laer & Hannes Winner, 2022. "Impacts of rapid mass vaccination against SARS-CoV2 in an early variant of concern hotspot," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Alexander Karaivanov & Dongwoo Kim & Shih En Lu & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2022. "COVID-19 vaccination mandates and vaccine uptake," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(12), pages 1615-1624, December.
    4. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    5. Chandra, Amitabh & Cutler, David & Song, Zirui, 2011. "Who Ordered That? The Economics of Treatment Choices in Medical Care," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 397-432, Elsevier.
    6. Joshua S. Gans, 2023. "Vaccine Hesitancy, Passports, And The Demand For Vaccination," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(2), pages 641-652, May.
    7. Alexander Ahammer & Thomas Schober, 2020. "Exploring variations in health‐care expenditures—What is the role of practice styles?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 683-699, June.
    8. Lawler, Emily C., 2017. "Effectiveness of vaccination recommendations versus mandates: Evidence from the hepatitis A vaccine," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 45-62.
    9. Margaret E. Brehm & Paul A. Brehm & Martin Saavedra, 2022. "The Ohio Vaccine Lottery and Starting Vaccination Rates," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(3), pages 387-411.
    10. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Heidi Williams, 2016. "Sources of Geographic Variation in Health Care: Evidence From PatientMigration," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1681-1726.
    11. Stefano DellaVigna & Matthew Gentzkow, 2010. "Persuasion: Empirical Evidence," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 643-669, September.
    12. Anna-Theresa Renner & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2020. "Modeling inter-regional patient mobility: Does distance go far enough?," Economics working papers 2020-04, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    13. Stefano DellaVigna & Ethan Kaplan, 2007. "The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1187-1234.
    14. Abrevaya, Jason & Mulligan, Karen, 2011. "Effectiveness of state-level vaccination mandates: Evidence from the varicella vaccine," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 966-976.
    15. Auld, M. Christopher, 2003. "Choices, beliefs, and infectious disease dynamics," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 361-377, May.
    16. Barber, Andrew & West, Jeremy, 2022. "Conditional cash lotteries increase COVID-19 vaccination rates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. David Cutler & Jonathan S. Skinner & Ariel Dora Stern & David Wennberg, 2019. "Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 192-221, February.
    18. Skinner, Jonathan, 2011. "Causes and Consequences of Regional Variations in Health Care," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 45-93, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leila Agha & Keith Marzilli Ericson & Xiaoxi Zhao, 2020. "The Impact of Organizational Boundaries on Healthcare Coordination and Utilization," NBER Working Papers 28179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Avdic, Daniel & Ivets, Maryna & Lagerqvist, Bo & Sriubaite, Ieva, 2023. "Providers, peers and patients. How do physicians’ practice environments affect patient outcomes?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Mayank Aggarwal & Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Chirantan Chatterjee, 2023. "Movies, stigma and choice: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    4. Yann Algan & Quoc-Anh Do & Nicolò Dalvit & Alexis Le Chapelain & Yves Zenou, 2015. "How Social Networks Shape Our Beliefs: A Natural Experiment among Future French Politicians," Working Papers hal-03459820, HAL.
    5. Maja Adena & Ruben Enikolopov & Maria Petrova & Veronica Santarosa & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2015. "Radio and the Rise of The Nazis in Prewar Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 130(4), pages 1885-1939.
    6. Ruben Durante & Paolo Pinotti & Andrea Tesei, 2019. "The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2497-2530, July.
    7. Stefano Della Vigna & Ruben Enikolopov & Vera Mironova & Maria Petrova & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2014. "Cross-Border Media and Nationalism: Evidence from Serbian Radio in Croatia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 103-132, July.
    8. Alexander Karaivanov & Dongwoo Kim & Shih En Lu & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2022. "COVID-19 vaccination mandates and vaccine uptake," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(12), pages 1615-1624, December.
    9. Amorim, Guilherme & Lima, Rafael Costa & Sampaio, Breno, 2022. "Broadband internet and protests: Evidence from the Occupy movement," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Barili, Emilia & Bertoli, Paola & Grembi, Veronica, 2021. "Neighborhoods, networks, and delivery methods," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Alexander Ahammer & Thomas Schober, 2020. "Exploring variations in health‐care expenditures—What is the role of practice styles?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 683-699, June.
    12. Elaine Kelly & George Stoye, 2015. "New joints: private providers and rising demand in the English National Health Service," IFS Working Papers W15/22, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    13. Sarah Schneider-Strawczynski & Jérôme Valette, 2021. "Media Coverage of Immigration and the Polarization of Attitudes," PSE Working Papers halshs-03322229, HAL.
    14. Thomas Fujiwara & Karsten Müller & Carlo Schwarz, 2021. "The Effect of Social Media on Elections: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 28849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. David Card & Alessandra Fenizia & David Silver, 2019. "The Health Impacts of Hospital Delivery Practices," NBER Working Papers 25986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Tamara Bischof & Boris Kaiser, 2021. "Who cares when you close down? The effects of primary care practice closures on patients," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2004-2025, September.
    17. Avdic, Daniel & Blankart, Katharina, 2021. "A Hard Look at “Soft” Cost‐control Measures in Healthcare Organizations: Evidence from Preferred Drug Policies in Germany," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 74978, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    18. Jakub Cerveny & Jan C. van Ours, 2022. "Long-term returns to local health-care spending," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-072/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    19. Barber, Andrew & West, Jeremy, 2022. "Conditional cash lotteries increase COVID-19 vaccination rates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Avdic, Daniel & Blankart, Katharina, 2021. "A Hard Look at “Soft” Cost‐control Measures in Healthcare Organizations: Evidence from Preferred Drug Policies in Germany," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 74978, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19 vaccination; vaccine hesitancy; health policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2022-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Janette Walde (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fuibkat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.