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By Amy Norton<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
When parents have concerns about the safety of childhood vaccinations<\/a>, it can be tough to change their minds, as a new study shows.<\/p>\n The study involved “vaccine<\/a>-hesitant” parents — a group distinct from the staunch “anti-vaxxer” crowd. They have worries about one or more routine vaccines<\/a>, and question whether the benefits for their child are worthwhile.<\/p>\n Even though those parents are not “adamantly” opposed to vaccinations<\/a>, it can still be hard for pediatricians to allay their concerns, said Jason Glanz, lead researcher on the study.<\/p>\n So Glanz and his colleagues looked at whether giving parents more information — online material “tailored” to their specific concerns — might help.<\/p>\n It didn’t. Parents who received the information were no more likely to have their babies<\/a> up to date on vaccinations than other parents were, the study found.<\/p>\n The news was not all bad. Overall, more than 90% of babies<\/a> in the study were all caught up on vaccinations.<\/p>\n So it may have been difficult to improve upon those numbers, according to Glanz, who is based at Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s Institute for Health Research in Aurora.<\/p>\n But, he said, it’s also possible the customized information reinforced some parents’ worries.<\/p>\n “It might have done more harm than good,” Glanz said.<\/p>\n That’s because among vaccine<\/a>-hesitant parents, those who were directed to general information that was not<\/i> tailored, had the highest vaccination rates — at 88%.<\/p>\n The findings were published online Oct. 12 in Pediatrics<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n Childhood vaccination rates in the United States are generally high. But studies show that about 10% of parents either delay or refuse vaccinations for their kids — generally over safety worries.<\/p>\n Routine childhood vaccines<\/a> have a long history of safe use, Glanz said, but some parents have questions. They may have heard that certain ingredients in vaccines<\/a> are not safe, or worry that their baby is being given “too many” immunizations in a short time.<\/p>\n And during a busy pediatrician visit, Glanz said, it can be hard to address all those questions.<\/p>\n So his team tested a web-based tactic to augment routine checkups. They randomly assigned 824 pregnant<\/a> women and new parents to one of three groups: One received standard vaccine information from their pediatrician; another was directed to the study website for additional, but general, information on immunizations; and the third received tailored information from the website.<\/p>\n That tailoring was done with the help of a survey that asked parents about their vaccine beliefs and concerns.<\/p>\n In the end, however, the targeted messaging flopped. It made no difference among parents overall: Across the three groups, between 91% and 93% of babies were up to date on vaccinations at 15 months of age.<\/p>\n And among the 98 parents who were deemed vaccine-hesitant, the tactic seemed to backfire: Only 67% of those babies were up to date compared to 88% of those whose parents received general vaccine information. The rate was 75% in the standard-care group.<\/p>\n Dr. Edgar Marcuse, an emeritus professor of pediatrics<\/a> at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, wrote an editorial published with the study.<\/p>\n Like Glanz, he speculated that the targeted content may have “fanned the flames of doubt,” rather than quelling them.<\/p>\n It’s also possible, Marcuse said, that these types of questions are better addressed face-to-face than by “one-way” communication.<\/p>\n The question of how to sway vaccine-hesitant parents is always important, Marcuse said. And it has an added layer now, he noted, as health experts may encounter a wary public if and when a COVID-19<\/a> vaccine becomes available.<\/p>\n That vaccine would be brand-new, with only short-term data to back it up. But for routine childhood vaccinations, Marcuse said, the evidence supporting their effectiveness and safety is “overwhelming.”<\/p>\n Both he and Glanz urged parents to take any vaccine concerns to their doctor, rather than relying on what they find online.<\/p>\n Social media can be an especially powerful source of misinformation, Glanz noted.<\/p>\n “Your pediatrician is the best source of vaccine information — much better than social media,” he said.<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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