Make COVID vaccine necessary for medical doctors?

May 7, 2021 – Should COVID-19 vaccinations be required for health professionals?

WebMD surveyed its readers to ask this question and collected 3,035 responses. Almost two thirds or 66% said yes and 34% said no. Of the yes votes, 55% believed that these vaccinations should be required immediately and 11% said they should ultimately be mandatory.

WebMD’s sister company Medscape, which produces health news for medical professionals, conducted a similar survey. The results were similar: 69% of 998 doctors said employers should require doctors to get COVID-19 vaccines. Within this group, 7 in 10 should need vaccination right away, while 30% of respondents said vaccination should await full FDA approval.

In both surveys, people 65 and over were the top supporters of calling for COVID-19 vaccinations for health professionals.

In the WebMD survey, 25-34 year olds were the only group where a majority disagreed that the shots should be mandatory. Only 48% of this group agreed with this idea. Almost three quarters or 73% of 55 to 64 year olds supported such a vaccination mandate.

Dear President Biden @POTUS
Our local hospital staff only vaccinated 65%.
Doctors and nurses reject the vaccine.
Please make this mandatory or remove it and open the labor market to those who protect our citizens.
– Many Thanks

– The wonderful old man (@MrSavileRow) May 6, 2021

And vaccination status seemed important to readers. When asked how likely it is that they will schedule a doctor’s appointment with a doctor who they know is not vaccinated, 24% said it was “very likely”. Another 9% said they were likely, 20% were neutral, and 17% said they were unlikely.

Almost a third, 31%, said it was “very unlikely” to make such an appointment.

61% of respondents said they had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 48% said they were fully vaccinated.

The WebMD survey also asked respondents to report any concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 37% feared the vaccine side effects would outweigh the risk of COVID-19. The same percentage reported concerns about effectiveness.

In addition, 28% reported concerns about other side effects, 27% about speed of development, and 26% feared that some companies’ vaccines may be better than others.

The seven-question WebMD survey ran online from April 27 to May 3.