Opinions about vaccines are bouncing around like crazy, some of which are based on science, some that are not. When it comes to expert advice on the measles vaccine, you can’t get much better than Gregory Poland, editor in chief of the scientific journal Vaccine and founder and head of the Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Tara Haelle, contributor for Forbes, interviewed Poland to get his thoughts on the current measles outbreak, the vaccine, and his thoughts on a parent’s decision not to vaccinate.
For one, Poland believes the current measles vaccine is excellent, but because the disease is so transmissible and about 2 to 5 percent of people don’t respond to it, working to create an even better one is more than worthwhile. He says this is an often misunderstood concept – to be clear – better doesn’t mean the current one isn’t greatly effective and safe.
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If we continue to have people who voluntarily don’t vaccinate, measles could very well become a long-term issue, he says. If everyone is vaccinated, the only people susceptible are that small percent who don’t respond, which Poland says “would only have very small outbreaks of one or two or three people spread across time.”
Poland sharing his thoughts on parents who choose not to get their children vaccinated and how physicians can actually improve in their own role was a very interesting and thoughtful part of the interview. Here’s what he says:
One of the things I take as valid health criticism, as my daughter, a psychologist, has pointed out, is that we in the medical profession have not done a good job of discussing or explaining this to our patients. She developed an idea that people have different preferred cognitive styles and decision-making behaviors and that what we need to do is not stick only to the highly analytic cognitive style of a physician – all about the facts and data and numbers – but to determine the cognitive style of the patient in the front of us. Then it’s incumbent upon us to best meet the cognitive styles of the patient. I think we have erred in not doing that.
I don’t think my patients who reject vaccines are nuts. They have come to conclusion – I believe their conclusion is in error – but they have come to a conclusion that the vaccine is not good. I’ve yet to meet a parent who doesn’t want to do the very best for their child, including vaccines. What I try to do now is that I then try to determine the style they use to make decisions under uncertainty, and that often means I have to establish a rapport or relationship with that patient before they will consider getting a vaccine. Or they may decide never to, but I often view my role as a physician as a patient advisor, and I try to give them the best information we know and have. If they make a choice that I think is adverse to that, I will let them know.
The current debates and contradicting opinions, especially between politicians, start to sound more like they’re about ego-based, who’s right and who’s wrong arguments instead of being based in reality – when people’s lives are really at risk.
Poland finished the interview with an important thought:
“I’ve found actually THE most contagious disease is fear,” he said. “But to be afraid is to be ignorant in a case like this.”
Read the entire Forbes interview here.
