Originally submitted by Lois Rains
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) holds that parents should not be allowed to exempt their children from vaccinations: at least not without some required medical “counseling.” Their article addresses vaccine-hesitant parents and how they are not heeding scientific evidence but buying into mistrust of government, and media and celebrity hype. Those parents who him-haw “complicate things,” “So new, innovative approaches are needed to reach vaccine-hesitant parents who are susceptible to the messages of the antivaccine folks.”
So what does this counseling consist of? Gathering ideas from different pro-vaccine groups, the article coaches doctors to use social media “intervention” and pressure, fear-raising statistics, getting the parent alone for one-on-one talk, ultimatums and cold shoulder (i.e. refusal to see children till vaccinated), appealing to their sense of community, and breaking down their fears using empathy.
But why would parents be concerned about vaccine safety? It’s not like they can read about the ingredients, find scientific data to the contrary, hear from bereaved parents or that the Vaccine Compensation Injury Program has doled out more than $1.8 trillion in vaccine-injury claims…oh, wait.
If only 2-3% of parents are adamantly opposed to vaccinations, as they say, then what are they worried about? They want laws to demand mandatory vaccinations for everyone, but in the meantime they want doctors to aggressively appeal to those parents who are teetering on the edge of refusal.
Read the entire article here.
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