@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp15730,
            	author={Steinmayr, Andreas and Rossi, Manuel},
            	title={Vaccine-Skeptic Physicians and COVID-19 Vaccination Rates},
            	year={2022},
	month={Nov},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={15730},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/publications/dp15730},
	abstract={What is the role of general practitioners (GPs) in supporting or hindering public health efforts? We investigate the influence of vaccine-skeptic GPs on their patients' decisions to get a COVID-19 vaccination. We identify vaccine-skeptic GPs from the signatories of an open letter in which 199 Austrian physicians expressed their skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines. We examine small rural municipalities where patients choose a GP primarily based on geographic proximity. These vaccine-skeptic GPs reduced the vaccination rate by 5.6 percentage points. This estimate implies that they discouraged 7.9% of the vaccinable population. The effect appears to stem from discouragement rather than from rationing access to the vaccine.},
	keywords={vaccine hesitancy;vaccination;COVID-19;health policy},
            }