Addressing Pediatric Vaccine Hesitancy: Communication Strategies That Work

Vaccine hesitancy remains a persistent challenge for primary care physicians, particularly in pediatrics, where misinformation and a lack of firsthand experience with vaccine-preventable diseases can shape parents’ perceptions. In this Patient Care^® interview, family physician Sarah Sams, MD, discusses her approach to vaccine conversations that preserve trust while addressing concerns head-on. From tailoring communication to each patient’s needs to using humor, factual data, and her own firsthand accounts of serious illnesses, Dr Sams offers practical tools to help clinicians guide families toward timely and complete immunization.

Sarah Sams, MD, is a board-certified family physician who is a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Dr Sams also an associate director and full-time faculty member at Grant Family Medicine Residency in Columbus, Ohio.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

Patient Care: What communication strategies have you found most effective in addressing vaccine hesitancy without damaging the patient–clinician relationship?

Sarah Sams, MD: It really depends on the individual patient and their personality. Some just need a lot of data. Others have a history or experience with a family member that has made them hesitant. I ask what their concerns are and try to address those directly.

Sometimes we use humor. I often share a video that takes a humorous approach to contrast outcomes in unvaccinated versus vaccinated populations. It still includes a lot of facts and data, which some patients find helpful.

One of the biggest problems right now is that many of the diseases we vaccinate against have not been seen by this generation, such as measles and whooping cough. They’ve been eradicated or reduced for so long that the parents of these children—or young adults themselves—have never seen these illnesses and don’t realize how serious they can be. They hear about potential side effects from a vaccine, and that becomes their only concern; they don’t understand the risks of the illness itself.

So we do some education about that. Fortunately—or unfortunately—I’ve been around long enough to have seen some of these illnesses before widespread vaccination, and I can speak directly to the severe manifestations they can cause, including death.