How a doctor discusses vaccine hesitancy with patients

Welcome back.

Most Canadians won't need convincing that
a COVID vaccine will be worth taking

once it arrives.

But, as you just herd,
many Canadians have questions.

So, to answer some of ours,

Dr. Cora Constantinescu,
an infectious disease specialist

who works at the vaccine hesitancy clinic

at the Alberta Children’s Hospital
in Calgary.

And Dr, I didn’t even know
that a place such as your even existed.

I mean, who gets referred to you, exactly?

We have made it
into a more of a streamline process

and have actually going out
in the physician community

and told them that we are here to support them
as they refer the patients into us.

And then, do you see it as your job

to sort of convince people to get vaccinated?

I see it as my job to support people
as they’re making the decision to vaccinate.

So, how does that conversation sound?

I mean, where do you even begin?

I star every time reminding myself

that at the heart of each
and every vaccine hesitancy appointment,

there is a parent trying

to make the best decision they can
for themselves and for their family.

And it actually takes
quite a lot of courage to come in

because they’re battling
a lot of fear and misinformation,

and overall, a lack of trust.

So we spend quite a lot of time
building rapport and trust with each family

understanding more about them
so we can actually personalize

and tailor the communication and the message
that we give them about the vaccinations.

And then,
we work closely with public health

where they go ahead
and actually administer the vaccine.

And that’s striking, that you would say
there is this kind of lack of trust.

I mean, how would you even begin to advice?

I don’t know, like a provincial government,
a local government,

or the federal government
to create that or to build that.

Yeah, so, I really think that
when we think about trust,

we have to think at the personal level,
and at the population level.

And at the personal level,

it goes back to this idea
of putting it into perspective

and understanding
what the benefit of the vaccine

and the dangers of the diseases to each of us.

So, when it comes to COVID, for example,

I would encourage every Canadian
to think of what this pandemic

and what they have done for this pandemic

and what this virus
has taken away from them.

So, it might be that
some have lost loved ones,

others have lost their social interaction,
the ability of the kids to go to school.

There is a cost to each and everyone of us

and therefore, there is a benefit
to each and everyone of us.

And then, we all have to go
and have to take this vaccine

so we can show
that we’re indeed in this together.

And then, when we move
at the population level,

it’s really important
to start building this trust.

It’s a hard task to take on

because you have to consider
the complexity of human behavior,

especially about COVID-19.

And our health care institutions
can't do this alone.

I don’t want this to come across
as a callous question,

but, how do you know what you do works?

Because you are not the one
administering vaccines, right?

Do you track your success rate,
so to speak?

So, depending on how we look at it.

It’s anywhere between about 50 to 65 %

that patients will go ahead and have a vaccine
after they’ve attended our clinic.

And in the vaccine hesitancy world
actually that’s quite successful.

This has been an interesting conversation,
to be sure.

Dr Constantinescu,
thank you so much for your time.

It was a real pleasure to be here,
thank you for having me.