{"id":25969,"date":"2019-09-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/09\/turning-the-anti-vaccination-tide\/"},"modified":"2020-01-06T19:22:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T19:22:23","slug":"turning-the-anti-vaccination-tide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/09\/turning-the-anti-vaccination-tide\/","title":{"rendered":"In the age of vaccine skepticism, doctors are developing a new skill: the power of persuasion"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nineteen years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> (CDC) declared that measles\u2014a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease\u2014had been eradicated from the United States thanks to an effective vaccine, a robust vaccination Fast forward to August 2019, and more than 1,200 cases of measles have been confirmed in 30 states in 2019 alone. According to the CDC<\/a>, this is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1992.<\/p>\n What happened?<\/p>\n An increasing number of parents began declining vaccinations. Known as anti-vaxxers, vaccine-hesitant, and vaccine choice activists, the group gained momentum after Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor who has since been stripped of his medical license, published now widely disproven research linking certain vaccines to autism spectrum disorders.<\/p>\n The medical community is fighting back.<\/p>\n To quell the fears of hesitant parents and deliver the truth about vaccines, more physicians and other medical professionals have started employing methods used by pediatricians to communicate with parents and address their most immediate concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot to learn about these conversations and what conversations work,\u201d said Susan Wootton, M.D.<\/a>, infectious disease specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is important to focus on a specific concern, she said, and then help parents understand the information around that concern.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a conversation that will necessarily turn the parent around immediately\u2014it might take several visits to talk about it and hear what it is they have questions about, but I think it\u2019s essential to maintain that relationship and help them find their way. It\u2019s really about being an ally,\u201d Wootton said, emphasizing the importance of patients having a medical home where there is a trusting relationship between the patient and the provider.<\/p>\n It is also necessary to address any vaccine myths head-on by debunking them first, then labeling them, stating why they are not true, and finally replacing the myth with accurate information, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to provide them with the truth that fills in that biggest concern,\u201d Wootton said.<\/p>\n Finally, she cited a shift in language termed the \u201cpresumptive approach.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is when a doctor comes in and says, \u2018Today we\u2019re going to do your flu shot,\u2019 rather than coming in and saying, \u2018Do you want to have your flu shot?\u2019\u201d Wootton explained. \u201cA presumptive framing is more effective than the ask, and that\u2019s a simple thing to train providers on.\u201d<\/p>\n In August, STAT News<\/em> published a story<\/a> about an initiative in Qu\u00e9bec that stationed a new workforce of vaccine counselors in maternity wards. Their goal was to employ a \u201cno-pressure strategy,\u201d using a technique called motivational interviewing to speak to parents about their opinions about vaccinations and then offer to answer any questions or concerns they may have.<\/p>\n Other methods are in the works. At the annual meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases<\/a>, Saad B. Omer, MBBS, Ph.D.<\/a>, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health<\/a>, encouraged pediatricians to frame the conversation in a way that focuses on the disease and its potential consequences rather than the safety of vaccines, according to a June article published in Pediatric News<\/em>.<\/p>\n But one of the issues at hand is not simply how the conversations are being framed, but if a meaningful conversation can take place at all.<\/p>\n \u201cMost parents aren\u2019t deeply dug in\u2014they\u2019re just scared and inundated with misinformation, and it requires a conversation, and sometimes that can go on for 20, 30 minutes,\u201d said Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.<\/a>, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine<\/a> and director of the Texas Children\u2019s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine<\/a>. \u201cThe problem you get into is the logistics of having a 30-minute conversation in a busy pediatric practice.\u201d<\/p>\n It makes sense, then, that the initiative in Qu\u00e9bec included a new classification of employees\u2014 rather than tacking on a time-consuming yet critical task to the caseloads of already-busy pediatricians and nurses.<\/p>\n The anti-vaccination movement continues to rise, in part because its members are vocal, social-media savvy and appeal to some of the most basic of human desires: that of a freedom to choose and a longing to keep loved ones safe.<\/p>\n And therein lies the crux of the issue: While the medical community has proven time and again that vaccines are safe and effective in preventing a multitude of diseases, many vaccine-hesitant parents still conclude that the safest choice for their children is letting nature take its course.<\/p>\n
\nprogram and a strong public health system.<\/p>\nAgreement and divergence<\/h2>\n