An open letter to pediatricians (how would you answer it?)

Families that don’t vaccinate their children are true enemies of health and science.

But where are the pediatricians in all this? The role of doctors in convincing parents to vaccinate their children can be a little tricky.

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This Reddit user claiming to be a medical resident (and also claims to be married to a pediatric resident) raised that very question in a very Reddit way in a subsection of “Meddit” dedicated to medical professionals.

Brace yourself.

“I just want to ask a simple question: how are you not flaming dicks to parents who do not vaccinate their children? Obviously, I don’t mean right from the first conversation.

I’m a neuro resident, so I will give you an example of a similar (BUT VERY DIFFERENT) case in the neuro world:

I admit a lady in her 40’s with R MCA syndrome. She is outside of the window. Her LDL is ~200, A1c ~13. She had been diagnosed with HLD and DMII earlier in life (..yep). She did not take statins or metformin because her family told her they were bad for her. That’s it. Oh, and she was religious. Thought ‘god’ could help her.

I heard this shit the next day, and I professionally explained to her that this was ridiculous. I gave her a few days to think about it. She complies. I see her in clinic months later. Deficits improved (from rehab), medication compliant, sugars and lipids improved. Happy ending from a neuro perspective.

Yes, this is not a case of primary prevention. Yes, this is a story of an adult, not a cute and innocent child. Yes, this is not a transmissible disease. These reasons make my case a ton less controversial than what you Pedies deal with..but her reasoning was fucked up enough such that I needed to tell her she was ridiculous and with the way I explained things, she complied.

If I were you, I think I would lose my shit. Or just call them a dumbass, child-harmer, fucktard, you name it… right to their face. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS??? Putting your child’s and OTHER people’s CHILDREN’S lives at risk because you are a first world, uneducated, entitled idiot just makes me so so so mad!!! Personal choice?? No! Seatbelts are the law! Shit.

(Yes, I saw the front page post from last week about the doc who would quarantine unvaccinated children. That is a good example.)

Disclaimer: my wife is a peds resident. I hear about this a lot. We sit around and heatedly agree with each other until we get bored of agreeing.

/rant baton passed onto you”

It’s worth broadening the net on this. How can anyone with a significant level of interest or passion for healthcare not take the same position toward someone with a strong anti-vaccination point of view?