Distrust In Vaccines

Distrust in vaccines has been growing, especially among parents who believe vaccines are linked to disorders, such as autism (Haberman 2015). This mistrust presents a fatal issue for the community at large, which benefits from high vaccination rates, a concept known as herd immunity. Although the vaccination rate in the U.S. is at least ninety-percent, vaccination rates in some communities have fallen, leading to reduced herd immunity and a higher likelihood of an outbreak. The purpose of this paper is to show that the tension between individual choice not to vaccinate and the community’s consequential increased danger can be eliminated by using a physician-patient communication style that increases a physician’s control over vaccinating. …show more content…
has shown that the way physicians pose the topic of vaccines influences how likely the parent is to refuse the vaccine (2013). Opel et al. generalized the two types of approaches physicians use as either the participatory or presumptive style. The participatory approach involved asking parents whether they wanted to vaccinate. Conversely, the presumptive style simply involves stating that the vaccines will be done, and not asking.
When physicians used the participatory approach, 83% of parents resisted the vaccine recommendations. However, if physicians used the presumptive approach, only 26% of parents resisted the recommendation. Furthermore, when attempted to convince parents who initially resisted, 47% of parents eventually accepted the vaccines. Therefore, when a physician exerted more control over the situation, parents were more likely to vaccinate their