Health care providers are prepared to talk to their patients about fall vaccines, but may underestimate COVID-19 risk

We surveyed 246 health care providers in August 2024, just before the FDA approved updated COVID-19 vaccines. Here’s what we learned.

Introduction

On August 22, the FDA approved updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, one of three immunizations the CDC recommends for eligible populations this fall. Now, HCPs are tasked with answering questions and easing patient concerns about familiar flu vaccines, updated COVID-19 vaccines, and relatively new RSV vaccines. We surveyed 246 health care providers in August 2024 on their self-assessed preparedness to communicate with patients about fall vaccines and confidence in recommending the vaccinations.

Summary

• A total of 246 HCPs (146 doctors/physicians and 100 nurse/nurse practitioners) participated in the online survey.
• Doctors expressed high overall confidence (75 percent to 82 percent), in recommending fall vaccines and answering patient questions.
• Nurses were less confident (45 percent to 66 percent) than doctors, particularly about recommending COVID-19 vaccines and answering patient questions about receiving multiple vaccines at the same time.
• A substantial portion of HCPs underestimated COVID-19 risk, especially in young and healthy individuals.

Overall confidence among doctors is high

Surveyed doctors were generally very confident recommending fall vaccines to eligible patients—preparedness ranged from 75 percent to 82 percent based on vaccine type. Doctors were most confident recommending COVID-19 vaccines, with 82 percent saying they felt confident compared to 13 percent who did not feel confident. Seventy-seven percent were confident in recommending RSV vaccines and 75 percent in recommending the flu vaccine. Only 12 percent of physicians said they were not confident in recommending either vaccine.

Caption: Bar chart created by Monitoring Lab based on data from August 2024.

Doctors feel prepared to answer patient questions about fall vaccines

Across all survey questions, doctors consistently expressed confidence in their preparedness to communicate with patients about fall vaccines. Between 75 percent and 81 percent of doctors felt prepared to answer patient questions about the timing of vaccination, types of vaccines available, pediatric vaccines, and receiving multiple vaccines at the same time.

Doctors were most confident communicating with patients about COVID-19 vaccines, with 82 percent feeling prepared to explain the different types of COVID-19 vaccines available this fall and why updated COVID-19 vaccines are necessary. Eighty-one percent of doctors feel prepared to answer questions about patients’ individual COVID-19 risk and whether children need an updated fall COVID-19 vaccine.

Although preparedness was generally quite high, 14 percent of doctors said they felt “unprepared” to answer questions about fall vaccines for those with high-risk underlying conditions, getting all three fall vaccines at the same time, and how long patients should wait after a COVID-19 infection before getting the updated vaccine.

Nurses are less confident than doctors about fall vaccines

Confidence in recommending and talking to patients about fall vaccines was considerably lower among nurses than doctors. Only 51 percent of nurses reported feeling confident in recommending COVID-19 vaccines, while 57 percent were confident in recommending flu vaccines and 66 percent in recommending RSV vaccines. Nearly one in three said they were not confident about recommending COVID-19 vaccines to eligible patients.

With respect to patient questions about fall vaccines, 19 percent of nurses felt unprepared to recommend vaccines for patients with high-risk underlying conditions, and nearly one-third felt unprepared to answer questions about receiving all three fall vaccines at once. Twenty-nine percent of nurses also said they were unprepared to talk to patients about their individual COVID-19 risk or the differences between COVID-19 vaccines.

General fall vaccine knowledge is high, but COVID-19 risk is underestimated

Around three-quarters of doctors say that their employers and/or medical associations provided information about COVID-19 vaccines for the fall, compared to 57 percent of nurses. Seventy-seven percent of doctors were also knowledgeable about the types of COVID-19 vaccines available this fall through their clinic or health system.

A portion of health care providers appear to underestimate the severity of COVID-19 infections. For example, one-third of nurses and 16 percent of doctors think that long COVID is not a risk to young or healthy patients. Additionally, three in 10 nurses and 18 percent of doctors believe that the flu causes more people to be hospitalized than COVID-19. This belief contradicts recent studies showing that, in the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season, older adults were nearly 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than the flu or RSV and three to four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than from the flu.

Survey methods

A convenience sample of 146 doctors/physicians and 100 nurse/nurse practitioners participated in an online panel survey containing the following questions. The survey did not collect data on practitioner type, which might limit the generalizability to the broader health care community of the results because answers may vary based on medical specialty.