VIDEO: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, suggests sympathy can help ease vaccine hesitancy
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HOUSTON — Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, has been working in vaccine development for more than 40 years.
During that time, the dean of Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine has had a front-row seat to the rising anti-vaccine movement.
Hotez delivered a talk at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Spring Conference in which he discussed the rise of anti-vaccine sentiment during the past 2 decades and the politicization of vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said has made it even more difficult to have frank discussions with parents about vaccines.
In this video, Hotez suggests that some vaccine-hesitant patients and parents are “victims” of an “organized predatory and politically motivated campaign” to discredit vaccines and that sympathy and understanding may be the key to helping them overcome vaccine hesitancy.
“It can be very challenging, and there’s no real magical formula other than providing information and recognizing that you are a trusted source in those patients’ lives,” Hotez said.
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