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When it comes to vaccines - why are people talking about 'Negligent healthcare' ?

Health authorities are incompetent or uncompassionate

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.

This theme claims that the healthcare system and medical profession, such as doctors, are incompetent or uncompassionate. Arguments often cite previous bad experiences and relationships, and are often accompanied by a preference for dissenting healthcare professionals.

Is there any truth in it?

Distrust towards authorities is sometimes justified. For example, some people may be concerned about vaccination advice because some medical professionals acted disreputably in the past, or they may have had previous bad experiences with healthcare professionals who dismissed their concerns or behaved patronisingly towards them. We have the right to complain about poor behaviour we encounter. In the UK there are professional bodies and patient liaison services that will listen to our complaints.

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 vaccination advice because some medical professionals acted disreputably in the past, or they may have had previous bad experiences with healthcare professionals who dismissed their concerns or behaved patronisingly towards them. We have the right to complain about poor behaviour we encounter. In the UK there are professional bodies and patient liaison services that will listen to our complaints.



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

We may sometimes feel dismissed by a healthcare professional, but vaccine recommendations do not come from just one person.

Independent scientists and non-governmental organisations all over the world evaluate vaccines to be safe and effective before they are approved and healthcare professionals recommend them.

Most healthcare professionals will take time to discuss their patients’ concerns, as this is essential to deliver a rigorous standard of patient care. Healthcare is a demanding job that requires years of training, but most healthcare professionals take on the role because they care deeply about the wellbeing of their patients.

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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.