Study: Doctors have sway when it comes to parents choice for measles vaccine

The biggest headline all week has been the measles outbreak and subsequently vaccinations. Can I share one more? Because a local doctor and researcher recorded pediatricians and parents during child well-visits and he found out what might be causing more parents to opt out of vaccinations.

It’s understandable that the constant media coverage is starting to draw some backlash.

Read: Washington lawmaker aims to limit vaccine exemptions

But the measles is extremely contagious. Nine times as contagious as Ebola.

It’s ironic that countries are begging for a vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus and here we have a vaccine for the deadly measles virus. But we have the first-world luxury of saying ‘Nah, I’ll pass.’

So, it’s human nature to wonder why parents would say ‘No.’ Of course, the overarching theme is fear of Autism.

But on Thursday, the Autism Speaks foundation issued this statement:

The results of this research are clear: Vaccines do not cause Autism. We urge that all children be fully vaccinated.

The world leader in Autism research and outreach doesn’t even believe there’s a link between vaccinations and Autism.

Maybe there’s another very basic reason more and more parents are opting out: doctors.

Dr. Doug Opel, a pediatrician at Seattle Children’s and assistant professor at the University of Washington, filmed parents during their kids’ checkups. He thought maybe he could figure out what happens during the visit that tips a parent over to the side of opting out.

Read: Dr. Opel’s study on parents’ reactions to vaccines

“My perspective is, having had this conversation with many parents, is that they’re just trying to do what’s best for their child. I mean, these are good parents. They’re not crazy parents, they’re not irrational parents. This is a complex decision for parents to make. There is a lot of information about this, it’s fraught with emotion, you know, as a parent myself I can understand that. So I don’t fault parents for coming in with questions,” said Opel.

In watching the interactions between pediatricians and parents that were on video, Opel found that doctors use only two approaches to vaccines. The first, is the straight forward, ‘Okay, mom and dad, we’re going to give your child vaccines today’ in which parents were more likely to go along.

Then, there was the participatory approach such as: “Okay, mom and dad, what do you want to do about vaccines?” Opel found that a parent who is already hesitant regarding vaccines is more likely to resist this approach. But, Opel said in this scenario parents can be convinced otherwise.

“I think the more likely scenario is a parent who is on the fence who hasn’t committed, has some concerns but wants to talk about it. (They) want to be reassured and want to be convinced. As providers, since they’re coming to us wanting to trust us and get information from us, we need to know how to communicate that information effectively,” said Opel.

The vaccine debate is now officially in the territory of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Which is the divisive parenting battle line that does more harm than good.

We have calls for anti-vaccine parents to be jailed, sued, or worse, to wear an arm band identifying themselves.

Here we have a doctor, who watched parent after parent turn away potentially life-saving vaccines and he’s telling us to have the conversation and be patient with each other.

“This is not a new issue,” Opel said. “I mean, it’s manifesting in this contemporary way with the measles outbreak, but the underlying tension is an age-old tension, and that is respect for personal choice, personal autonomy and promoting public health and the common good.”