DocTalks podcast: Vaccine hesitancy - Talking to patients about the COVID-19 vaccine

As the COVID-19 vaccines roll out across BC and the rest of Canada, there are significant concerns about vaccine hesitancy. If too many people are unwilling to get the vaccine because of those concerns, everyone’s safety is compromised.

In this episode of DocTalks, we speak to vaccine safety scientist, Dr Julie Bettinger, and family doctors, Dr Birinder Narang and Dr Baldev Sanghera, about the critical role doctors play in vaccine acceptance among patients. What are the best ways to approach patients about getting their shot? What are some of the issues that influence a patient’s decision to get vaccinated or not? How does race, culture, and religion play a part in these decisions? How has media and misinformation informed people’s view of the vaccine?

Our guests delve into the complex subject of vaccine hesitancy, and share evidence-based information to help doctors feel prepared to have productive conversations with their patients.

Available for download on all podcast platforms or click play below to listen. 

Interested in this interview, but don’t have time to listen to the podcast? A summary of the conversation can be found here.

Resources:

• This is Our Shot Campaign
• New immunization fee for vaccine advice
• Doctors of BC resources about vaccines:
  • Answers for patients
  • Answers for doctors
  • Vaccine office toolkit
  • COVID-19 latest news from the PHO
• Articles about the impact of historical trauma on vaccine hesitancy:
  • “Medical experimentation and the roots of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Indigenous Peoples in Canada.” 
  • “Beyond Tuskegee — Vaccine Distrust and Everyday Racism.”