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 heard,
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
a place such as yours even existed.

Who gets referred to you, exactly?

We have made it into
more of a streamlined process

and have actually gone out
in the physician community

and told them that we are here to

support them as they
refer the patients in to us.

And 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.

How does that conversation sound?
Where would you even begin?

I start 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 their family.

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

because they’re battling
a lot of fears 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 vaccines.

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

How would you even begin to advise

a provincial government, a local
government, or the federal government

to create that or to build that?

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 danger of the disease
is to each of us.

So, when it comes to COVID, for example,

I would encourage every Canadian
to think of what this pandemic,

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 every one of us

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

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

so that 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.

And 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.

Dr Constantinescu,
thank you so much for your time.

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