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Coronavirus Hong Kong
OpinionComment
Edward Pinkney
Edward Pinkney

Opinion | Doctors’ concerns about Covid-19 vaccine liability must be addressed

  • Some doctors who have been vaccinated were reluctant to tell patients to get jabbed due to concerns about possible side effects, a 2021 study shows
  • As the fifth wave rages on, authorities must assure medical professionals that, within guidelines, it is safe to advise patients accordingly

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People rest after receiving the coronavirus vaccine at a centre set up at Tsing Yi MTR station, on March 11. The government’s failure to push vaccinations among the elderly has been blamed for the high number of deaths during Hong Kong’s fifth Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: EPA-EFE
Edward Pinkney

Medical practitioners in Hong Kong have been reluctant to recommend Covid-19 vaccines to patients with chronic health conditions for fear of the risk of adverse events. Significant numbers of doctors have also been hesitant about openly discussing or recommending vaccination even for those with no relevant health issues.

These are the conclusions from a study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong that received little attention when published last November. The findings, which should have raised alarm bells, offer an explanation for the city’s stubbornly low vaccination rate among the elderly.

Of the 312 family doctors that completed the survey, 90.1 per cent had themselves been vaccinated. However, when asked if they would recommend vaccination to patients without contraindications, a third indicated they would not.

This was not simply doctors wanting to let patients make the final decision after a discussion, as 47.1 per cent indicated they would not “proactively discuss vaccination with patients”.

As for why they were unwilling to recommend vaccination, 31 per cent agreed there was “insufficient data to support recommendation”, while 41 per cent suggested “clearer [clinical] guidelines” were needed. Doctors were also concerned about vaccine safety, with 36.2 per cent worrying about the potential for vaccines to have serious side effects in patients with a chronic illness.

The study suggests a considerable disconnect between the city’s clinical advisers and frontline medical staff. While it was conducted in mid-2021, and concerns will have softened since, the numbers point to an alarmingly high base of doctor hesitancy and uncertainty four months into the vaccine programme.

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