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When it comes to vaccines - why are people talking about 'Exaggerated risk' ?

Medical authorities are overreacting and overusing vaccines

One of the strongest predictors of vaccine hesitancy is people’s general mistrust of authorities and those perceived as working for them.

The distrust is often expressed in claims about vested interests, or it reveals itself as a lack of knowledge about vaccinations.

It can be directed towards different targets, for example:

  • Health and medical professionals and organisations.
  • Pharmaceutical companies.
  • Governments.
  • Scientists.
  • The ‘medical establishment’.

It can also be directed towards the scientific process and to vaccines themselves.

Although distrust is related to conspiracist beliefs, arguments framed within this attitude root are distinct in that the reasons for distrust may be due to a person’s lived experience (e.g., having experienced discrimination in the healthcare system). Arguments stemming from distrust also need not relate to conspiracies. Instead, distrust often manifests as vague statements, full of suspicion and uncertainty, with conclusions drawn based on the source of the message.

People may believe there is a false panic and little risk from the disease. Some people may claim that medical authorities are overreaching and trying to prevent minor illnesses with vaccines that are unnecessary. People may frame this as a distraction from other problems.

Is there any truth in it?

Distrust towards authorities is sometimes justified. For example, some people may be concerned about the misuse of vaccines because other medicines such as antibiotics are sometimes prescribed when they are not needed. Since all medicines can cause side effects, we do not want to be overusing any of them. It is understandable to wonder if this also extends to vaccine recommendations, especially when other people may claim that the diseases the vaccines protect us against are mild.

What could I say to someone fixed on this belief?

Dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals is most productive if it is guided by empathy, and an opportunity for the patient to affirm the reasons underlying their attitudes and to express understanding for that. That’s why it is important to understand the attitude roots behind people’s overt opinions. To affirm a person’s underlying attitude root does not mean we need to agree with the specifics of their argument. For example, we can acknowledge that:

Distrust towards authorities is sometimes justified. For example, some people may be concerned about the misuse of vaccines because other medicines such as antibiotics are sometimes prescribed when they are not needed. Since all medicines can cause side effects, we do not want to be overusing any of them. It is understandable to wonder if this also extends to vaccine recommendations, especially when other people may claim that the diseases the vaccines protect us against are mild.



Having set the stage through this (partial) affirmation, we can then proceed to correct the patient’s particular misconception.

Vaccine schedules are decided on the basis of safety and effectiveness by medical and public health experts, taking into account the severity of the diseases they prevent. The recommended vaccines are selected because they protect against diseases that can have severe consequences.

It is easy to forget the profound impact of diseases such as measles, which killed 2.6 million people every year before vaccines were available.

Vaccines have successfully eliminated or suppressed many diseases, to the extent that some of us may be fortunate enough not to have experienced them. Unfortunately, in some cases, falling immunisation rates are now leading to more cases of these diseases.

Even though some people may experience milder versions of a disease, it is impossible to be 100% sure of how we will be affected.

Where can I find out more?

Additional information: 

Academic references:

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MISINFORMATION & DISTRUST

One of the strongest predictors of vaccine hesitancy is people’s general mistrust of authorities, pharmaceutical companies, scientists, the medical “establishment”, and scientific research methods and findings. The distrust is often expressed in claims about vested interests or a lack of knowledge about vaccinations. It can be directed towards different targets, for example, health and medical authorities or professionals, pharmaceutical companies, the government, and the scientific process and vaccines themselves.

 

Although distrust is related to conspiracist ideation, arguments framed within this attitude root are distinct in that the reasons for distrust may be due to a person’s lived experience (e.g., having experienced discrimination in the healthcare system). Arguments stemming from distrust also need not relate to conspiracies. Instead, distrust often manifests as vague statements, full of suspicion and uncertainty, with conclusions drawn based on the source of the message.