Vaccine hesitancy
Reich spent nearly ten years exploring what motivates some parents to decline inoculations for their children,or delay them. Her interviews with parents and subsequent research are presented in her 2016 book Calling the Shots:Why Parents Reject Vaccines. She sees vaccine hesitancy as a consequence of societal pressures on parents (especially middle-class mothers) to make choices that are uniquely suited to their own children in terms of health and education,to maximize their chances of success in life:"We do vaccines in a way that has been shown to be scientifically the most efficacious and the safest and also the easiest to distribute at a national level. But for parents who really prioritize each child in their family as an individual,they don't accept this kind of logic." [5] [6] Working full-time on their kids,these parents are inclined to disregard generic advice dispensed by health professionals. [7] [8]
Facing a steady stream of misleading information,pediatricians and public health professionals have to know what motivates parents to be reluctant about vaccines,and to adjust how they communicate,says Reich. She suggests pediatricians have more success having a fruitful dialogue when they can communicate with empathy,parent-to-parent. How to put the focus on collective benefits - explaining own inoculation better protects all children - may be a way for public health authorities to overcome the reluctance of many parents. [5] [9] [10]
Reich presented at TEDxMileHigh Image "What I Learned from Parents who Don't Vaccinate their Kids",discussing her experiences with vaccine hesitancy. [11]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
