In recent weeks, though, I’ve heard from several people with an interesting excuse for waiting to get vaccinated: They say their doctors told them not to. Most of the people I spoke with requested anonymity so they could share sensitive health information. Most would also not give me their doctors’ names in order to shield the providers from negative consequences. The doctors whose names I did get did not return my calls or declined to comment for this story, leaving it unclear what they really think about vaccine exemptions. Some of the people I spoke with may simply be vaccine-hesitant and trying to blame a doctor for their own choice to delay or forgo getting a vaccine. But because doctors are a large and relatively diverse group of people, with varied training, credentials, and personal politics, it makes sense that some doctors would have incorrect views about vaccination.

“I do get a sense that some doctors may either recommend against vaccination or support a patient’s view of not being vaccinated,” Kimberly Blumenthal, an immunologist and drug-allergy researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, told me. Many people have come to Blumenthal for a second opinion after their primary-care doctors told them not to get the jab…

Some doctors might be overestimating the side effects of the vaccines, especially with patients who have complicated medical histories. Primary-care doctors, for example, are often stretched thin and may lack the training to address hyper-specific questions about a new vaccine. “People are often using chronic medical conditions as a reason not to be vaccinated,” Gounder said. But those are usually the people who should immediately get vaccinated. “Those people are at higher risk for severe COVID.”