#DoctorsSpeakUp

As both a mother and pediatrician, I am pretty comfortable in my bad cop persona. I have fully embraced the fact that I may never be the “fun” parent, nor will I likely be perceived as the “fun” doctor, as I spout such popular and well-received kernels of information, such as “no, it’s not healthy to play Fortnite 8 hours per day….yes, you should still be in a booster, I don’t care if your seven-year-old-friend rides in the front seat…no, cake is not a healthy breakfast… and no, neither candy corn, nor regular corn for that matter, count as a vegetable.” Thus it stands to reason that I should be unfazed by having to dispel various anti-vax-manufactured urban legends that have zero basis in either reality or evidence based medicine. 

You know what though? It actually does bother me. I know that I “should” have no issue sharing unpopular, yet scientifically sound, vaccine information. However, I am going to admit that doing so can be exhausting. But why?

First off, it is winter. While to the blissfully unaware non-primary-care-physicians out there, this may mean merely colder weather, holidays, ski season, snow shoveling, and hot chocolate, this season has a different connotation for those on the medical front lines. Pediatricians are typically exhausted during the respiratory season, and this season has been rougher than usual due to the high volume of influenza in the community. Now enter stage right, COVID-19,  and our bandwidth is dipping even further below where it was in January, when we found ourselves looking longingly toward April or May. But such is the seasonal nature of pediatrics and medicine in general. Most of us either knew what we signed up for in that regard, or quickly realized about two weeks into our first “respiratory season.” And certainly, this seasonality is something with which any parent of a small child is well- acquainted!

But one thing that no winter can fully prepare a doctor for is having to continually defend science to the general public. Now here is where I will admit that I am extremely lucky and have a really fantastic panel of patients, the majority of whom are fully vaccinated. So I am grateful that I spend very little time having protracted discussions about vaccines, beyond the standard anticipatory guidance. I rarely have to discuss Andrew Wakefield, the UK “physician” who lost his medical license for fabricating research positing a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. I also rarely have to address the lack of evidence that vaccines are unsafe or non-evidence-based alternative vaccination schedules. I only occasionally have to mention that there is far more formaldehyde in a single pear, than in the entire childhood vaccine series. At times I may need to mention that the entire childhood vaccine series contains a much smaller volume of antigens (portions of a virus or bacteria that stimulate the body to make protective antibodies) than that door handle you just touched. But even that conversation is not common in my daily practice. That said, for the occasional vaccine-hesitant or questioning parent, I can certainly engage in this discourse in the interest of health and well-being for my families and the community at large.

However, what I do not have much bandwidth left for is fighting the fear-mongering and ant-vax trolling practices that have become far too common and lead to a deleterious public health crisis. Some of us have almost become immune, ridiculous pun intended, to receiving yet another public health communicae regarding yet another case of measles or pertussis (whooping cough). I would be hard-pressed to think that any of us knew, when we took on $200K of medical school debt, that the medicine and science we learned would be publicly ridiculed on a nearly daily basis, and by people with zero training in science, research, medicine, or public health. In fact, in pediatrics, there is really little else that has such a robust body of evidence to support it. Yet here we are, arguing with conspiracy-theorists on social media. Who knew? 

On March 5th,  in the midst of an unrelenting flu season, and between answering questions about COVID-19, we will pause as a pediatric community to remind you that we will continue to fight the good fight. We are tired. But just as we used to rally in the 29th hour of a 30 hour shift in residency, we will dig deep. We will continue to support our patients, our families, and those in our practices and communities who are unable to receive vaccines or whose medical conditions put them at higher risk (such as cancer patients, transplant recipients, and those with weakened immune systems, including my youngest child). We will continue to engage in discourse and spread awareness to combat misinformation. We will persevere, to the best of our abilities, in trying to protect the community. All we ask in return is for you to vaccinate, wash your hands, and cover your cough. Also, we would like a nap…or two. 

#DoctorsSpeakUp #Vaccinessavelives #Vaccinescauseadults #Vaccinate #WashYourHands #CoverYourCough #supportdoctors #weneedsleep

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