Reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

As anyone in pediatrics knows, vaccine hesitancy is a source of frustration with a seemingly increasing number of families saying no to vaccines with decades of proven efficacy and safety records. The 2019 measles epidemic in the United States offered a potential look at what could happen as hesitancy continued to proliferate.

Then, the pandemic started with many people’s hope centered on a vaccine. The emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines has started to stem the tide of the pandemic, which has become even more important with the rise of variants. However, the growing vaccine hesitancy along with the fact that the coronavirus 2019 vaccine became politicized have created a potential public health issue.

To tackle these concerns, our sister publication Medical Economics spoke with Paul Hain, MD, about how to have effective conversations to tackle this hesitancy.