How could doctors convince people of the need to get swine flu shots?

David Liu - davidl at foodconsumer dot org

More than 50 percent of the U.S. population may not want swine flu vaccine, early surveys found.  But don’t blame them. 

The same percentage of doctors and health workers may not want swine flu shots either, according to a new study. 

Dr. Paul K.S. Chan at the Chinese university of Hong Kong and colleagues reported in Emerging Public Health Threats Journal that only 48 percent of the 389 health workers participating in the study indicted that they would receive pre-pandemic h1n1 vaccination. 

The most common reason to refuse the vaccine includes concerns about potential side effects, efficacy and the timing.  Dr. Chan said in his report that in nearly all countries with a preparedness plan, healthcare workers are listed as the priority group for mass vaccination. 

Doctors can pose a real risk to patients who visit their clinics when the swine flu strikes because they can serve as a medium for the virus to spread from person to person. 

Hong Kong is not the only place where a low rate of willingness to accept swine flu vaccine was seen. 

Another study in the same journal found very few of 85 focus group participants in British Columbia indicated they would be willing to get vaccinated in the event of a pandemic. 

Many of those who said they want to reject the vaccine were concerned about the risk of using newly developed vaccines, Dr. Natalie Henrich at the University of British Columbia and Dr. Bev Holmes at Simon Fraser University were cited as saying. 

Many people believed modified behavior such as frequent hand washing and staying away from crowded places and sick people can help prevent swine flu. 

In the United States, a similar low rate of health workers indicated in early surveys that they want to receive swine flu vaccine.