Power of listening

OPPOSITION to childhood vaccines is growing, and the views of the ‘anti-vaxxers’ has taken hold, according to alarming research carried out by Queen Mary University of London.

i think this is, at least in part, the fault of doctors. We’ve arrogantly dismissed the genuine fears of people who worry about the vaccination of their children, bombarding them with statistics instead.

professor Heidi Larson at the London school of Hygiene and tropical Medicine — and head of its Vaccine Confidence project — says that listening to people’s concerns without interruption, and talking them through, does bear fruit. Doctors need to heed her advice: we need to listen more and lecture less.