C. came home with his consent pack for his MMR booster. I can’t believe that it’s already time for a booster. I blinked and it is like it was yesterday.  But it was an entire pandemic ago.  And that’s really relevant to why I’m talking about it.  

The pandemic will be a focus of research for years to come.  For many reasons. It will have lasting effects.  Some we already know, some that are emerging.  Very few of them good.  One of the devastating effects of the pandemic is that despite the public discussion on communicable (means contagious) disease, viruses, vaccines, and science – much of the conversation was – and continues to be – dominated by fear.  Much of it due to fear or misunderstanding or just poor science literacy.  Sadly, plenty of these conversations have been hijacked by polarising political views, fear-mongering viral content, or someone’s need for 15 minutes of attention.

Just before Covid, we were looking seriously at the global eradication of polio.  This would be only the second disease eradicated (which means it no longer exists) by vaccines.  The first was smallpox in 1979.  The goal of vaccination programmes is to get rid of the disease — and then get rid of the vaccine (you might notice there is no smallpox vaccine for your children!)  Initially, measles and mumps were expected to follow quickly.  However, the anti-vaccination movement grew exponentially, and even more so in the wake of the pandemic, and is projected to set possible disease eradication back years.  It’s unlikely that I will see these diseases eradicated in my lifetime.

Measles, Mumps, Hepatitis B, and whooping cough are all vaccine preventable, and all regularly still circulating in Ireland.  HPV vaccine is a vaccine against 5% of all cancers.  The nasal flu vaccine is finally available to all children for free after years.  It was long overdue:  Between 2009 and 2019, 4,750 children were hospitalised with influenza, 183 of these were admitted to intensive care, and 41 died.

I am not unaware that I have an uncommon advantage when I signed the consent for C.’s booster.  My medical degree** does not make me smarter; it only gives me confidence to ignore the noise and trust the facts/science.   I love my child as much as any of you love yours.   If I thought it had potential to harm, I would not do it.

I don’t expect my patients’ families to have that same confidence.  Nor do I expect them to blindly trust me.  But I do hope that I can meet them where they are to break the science down and make sure they have what they need to make an informed decision based on facts, not fears.  Because our children are worth it.

Are you vaccine hesitant?  A link to my favourite resources for patients and families.

**Even among other docs, I have a slight advantage here:  My post-doctoral work is in molecular biology and I was a Fellow at the Eck Institute for Global Health.