Presenting the benefits/risks to a person who is undecided about vaccination could help convince some who are hesitant, a French study has reported.


Getting information about vaccines may help a person to take the plunge. According to a study conducted by Inserm, Hopital Dieu AP-HP and the University of Paris: one in 12 patients who were undecided about vaccination changed their minds after consulting the benefits and risks of the vaccine. The results were recently published in the journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making.


In January 2021, three French health professionals created an online tool (in French) allowing visitors to read about the benefits and risks of the vaccination against covid-19 for patients. This data presented covers from under 20 years old to over 80 years. Each period of life is categorized by decade. Gender (male or female) and vaccine (AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson) can also be selected. Since May, this interactive tool has been associated with a government web page.


To assess the impact of their tool, the scientists submitted it to 3152 patients with chronic diseases between January 8 and 14. These patients are part of a program called ComPaRe (Community of Patients for Research). They indicated before visiting the site whether or not they wanted to be vaccinated. Sixty-two percent (1,952) of these patients wanted to be vaccinated, while 30.5% (961) preferred to wait for more information about the vaccine. Finally, 7.5% (239) said they did not want to be vaccinated. 


What were the results after consultation of the site? "After consulting the tool, 96 of the 1,200 people initially reluctant to vaccinate had changed their minds. On average, for every 12 people reluctant to get vaccinated, one person changed their mind after consulting the tool," the study noted.


The participants who changed their mind after having consulted the tool were mainly those who had requested more information about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, the researchers explained.


Regarding people who refuse the vaccine, the professionals point out that "other studies showed that outright vaccination refusal was strongly associated with a lower perceived severity of COVID-19 if infected, and that only a negligible proportion of those people would accept vaccination even if presented with an ideal vaccine in terms of efficacy and safety."


Faced with the ceiling that the vaccination strategy is approaching in France, the researchers believe that "different strategies, such as incentivizing vaccination or complex combined strategies, should be considered."