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How to Persuade Parents to Vaccinate Their Kids
The keys are empathy and humility.
A vial of a vaccine. PHOTO: ELAINE THOMPSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The current outbreaks of measles are largely a result of parents being afraid to vaccinate their children—a fear that increased dramatically after a 1998 study in the Lancet falsely linked the vaccine with autism. It took 12 years for the journal to retract the study, which was based on only 12 children. The lead author lost his medical license, but the damage had been done.
Parents may not know about the study or not believe it was bogus. How do doctors persuade them? No matter what clinical specialty you go into, somebody’s going to question or ignore your advice. How do you approach patients who disagree with you?
The most successful physicians I’ve seen have two things in common: empathy and humility. What separates them from the pack is their ability to put themselves in other people’s shoes. It also helps to be mindful that you could be wrong. We’ve seen all sorts of changes in medical advice: Hormone replacement is good; then it’s bad. Vitamin E lowers the risk of prostate cancer; then it raises it. It’s part of the ebb and flow of science. Even if you’re right about the advice you’re giving a skeptical patient, remember what it’s like to have a belief punctured. That’s how your patient may feel if your scientific advice brushes up against a firmly held belief.
As a physician, how can you help? It’s possible you can’t. But we know what doesn’t work, and it’s the equivalent of when a child asks “But why?” and a parent answers, “Because I said so.” It doesn’t work to be condescending, judgmental, impatient or angry.
So let’s try starting with the obvious common ground: “We all love our children. We all want the best for them. As your doctor, I understand you’re not trying to hurt your child. Now, let’s talk.” Facts matter. Tone matters. Body language matters. A gentle, inquisitive “Why do you think that?” is far more effective than an impatient, dismissive “Why do you think that??!”
Logic doesn’t always win the day, especially when it brushes up against fear. But even if you don’t get through to patients the way you’d like, you can at least establish a calm, respectful tone for conversation. And don’t we all need more of that?
Dr. LaPook is chief medical correspondent of CBS News and a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health. This is adapted from his June 1 commencement address at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine.
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