As the updated COVID-19 vaccine becomes available this fall, a study published by UMass Chan Medical School researchers on primary care physicians' experience with vaccine-hesitant patients may shed light on the challenges and opportunities surrounding greater acceptance of the vaccines. The paper published in Patient Education and Counseling featured focus groups with 40 primary care physicians (PCPs) practicing in Central Massachusetts. The focus groups were conducted December 2021 through January 2022, roughly a year after COVID-19 vaccines rolled out.
Investigators focused on physicians' experience with patients who were very hesitant and whom they couldn't convince to get vaccinated. Approximately 1 in 6 people in the United States has not gotten a single COVID-19 vaccine dose since they first became available in late 2020, according to the researchers. "What we heard from the PCPs was just universal frustration with having a subset of patients who they felt like they couldn't get through to, despite their pre-existing relationship and feeling like the patients really trusted them—which had been touted as one of the best ways to get people vaccinated," said Kimberly Fisher, MD, associate professor of medicine and principal investigator.
Dr. Fisher said she believed this impasse reflected the level of disinformation being spread in society, with health care providers having to respond to it. Fisher said the challenge continues as the pandemic has entered a new, endemic .