Across the country, clinicians … are contending with a sharp rise in vaccine hesitancy. They are trying to do what is best for children’s health while staying sensitive and supportive, even as they bear the brunt of parents’ mistrust and confusion.
Skepticism about vaccines was once a fringe view, held by a small group of Americans. But the Covid-19 pandemic, with its mandates and rapid rollout of vaccines, breathed new vigor into the anti-vaccine movement and bred hostility toward the medical establishment.
Now vaccine skepticism emanates from the highest echelons of the U.S. government. Over the last year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his associates have questioned the safety of childhood vaccines, made false statements about their effectiveness and rescinded recommendations for routine vaccination against a half-dozen diseases.
Conferences of pediatricians now routinely hold workshops on earning parents’ trust. They are training clinicians to be less authoritarian, less judgmental and more patient, said Dr. Brandan Kennedy, a pediatric hospitalist in Kansas.
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… The training is intended to help clinicians manage the conversations “without making ourselves crazy and angry and resentful,” Dr. Kennedy said.
