Working Paper: NBER ID: w30951
Authors: Julie Berry Cullen; Maria K. Humlum; Agne Suziedelyte; Peter R.N. Thingholm
Abstract: We explore physicians’ role in moderating compliance with recommended vaccinations. Using administrative data on the universe of Danish children and their healthcare providers, we first construct and validate a measure of providers’ propensities to comply with recommended vaccinations from birth to age 6 based on a two-way fixed effects model. We then show the measure meaningfully affects uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescent patients, and speeds recovery from a media-induced crisis to perceived HPV vaccine safety. Providers affect decisions beyond those of their own patients, influencing patients’ younger cousins’ uptake by one-fifth as much as own patients.
Keywords: vaccination; provider influence; public health; HPV vaccine; compliance
JEL Codes: I1; I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Provider vaccination propensities (I12) | Vaccination uptake of patients (I10) |
| Provider vaccination propensities (I12) | Noncompliance (H26) |
| Provider vaccination propensities (I12) | HPV vaccination initiation (L26) |
| Provider vaccination propensities (I12) | Vaccination uptake among patients' younger cousins (J13) |