Medical misinformation is rampant but should not be overstated. Vaccination remains a good barometer of the range of opinions on a subject directly related to individual as well as population health. 82 percent of Americans received at least one shot of the COVID vaccine by December 2023. However, more recently, population vaccination rates of children are decreasing.
Perspectives on safety and immunity
The increasing distrust in vaccines may be due to a difference of perspective. On the one hand, herd immunity benefits populations as a whole. On the other hand, on an individual basis, population statistics do not truly apply, and adverse complications of vaccines are real with formal reporting systems in place. While there are recommended vaccines from birth to older age for the vast majority of healthy individuals, on an individual basis, certain vaccines are contraindicated.
A personal journey with data
Vaccine hesitancy itself is sometimes just hesitancy, a desire to seek more information before jumping in. I admit that I myself, someone who has now received multiple COVID vaccines and boosters and the influenza vaccine annually, waited (just a few months) to get my first COVID vaccine despite being eligible, as a health care professional, for the very first wave of mRNA vaccinations. I had non-health care friends who were trying to get the vaccine by any means possible, and they thought I was being obtuse, stupid, and even reckless.
My hesitancy stemmed from a desire for more data. At the time of the first wave of mass vaccination, less than 5 percent of individuals of Asian descent had been included in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials. To me, COVID was so new, with so many unknowns and new facts coming out in a seeming slow trickle, I thought it would provide important data to wait until millions more individuals were vaccinated. Maybe this is selfish, but I also knew that the majority of people around me were clamoring for the vaccine as it was initially in short supply, and my waiting would allow one more person who really wanted the vaccine to get it earlier in my stead.
Navigating the conversation
As physicians, we must be patient with our patients (I am a patient myself) and be willing and able to help each individual navigate their unique medical needs. Such care happens one-on-one each time we are with our patients, through open-ended questions and our ability to explain medical recommendations and not only their benefits but also their risks. Physicians must be honest with the imperfections of the medical system, medical treatments and procedures, and their own limitations as human beings doctoring other human beings. Physicians should not push their own opinions on their patients but rather present medical data and recommendations in a fair, objective, and honest way so that patients can get up-to-date, clear information from their own doctor.
Expanding the physician’s voice
In addition to talking honestly one-to-one with each patient, physicians can expand their voices and expertise to the community and beyond via public-facing opportunities, whether via local outreach, social media, or conventional media. In 2026 and beyond, let’s embrace medical misinformation as a call for doctors to showcase their expertise, one-on-one and beyond.
Christine J. Ko is a dermatopathologist.
