Working with vaccine-hesitant parents

Abstract

While most Canadian parents ensure that their children are immunized on time, some are hesitant about vaccination, delay vaccinations or outright refuse recommended vaccines. This practice point offers clinicians evidence-based guidance on how to work with vaccine-hesitant parents, especially those with safety concerns. Suggested steps include: understanding the specific parental vaccine concerns; using motivational interviewing techniques; staying on message and using clear language to present evidence of disease risks, and vaccine benefits and risks fairly and accurately; informing parents about the rigour of the vaccine safety system; addressing issues related to pain from immunization; and avoiding dismissal of children from a practice because parents refuse to immunize. Because immunization is one of the most important preventive health measures, responsible for saving literally millions of lives, addressing the concerns of vaccine-hesitant parents must be a priority for health care providers.

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