Parents urged to ‘trust your nurse’ on vaccines

Message comes amid spread of fake news on social media

Parents are being urged to “trust your nurse” regarding vaccination rather than turning to fake news on social media.

In a discussion about whether mandatory vaccination should be introduced in the UK for children starting school, nurses at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference in Liverpool argued it was important to win over hesitant parents through education and building trust.

Nykoma Hamilton, a mother of three from the RCN’s Fife branch, who proposed the debate, spoke in favour of mandatory vaccination during the discussion.

She said the “damage done” in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield’s discredited research linking autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine had “caused serious public health carnage among concerned parents worried about their child’s best interests”.

She said: “However, even in the face of substantial and increasing evidence against this link, there is still vaccine hesitancy.

“How do we debunk these myths? Parents talk to us, trust us, this why we are here.”

Ms Hamilton said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that vaccines have prevented at least 10 million deaths between 2010 and 2015 alone and many more people have been saved from long-term illness.

She said: “People need to engage fully in this discussion.

“We know as parents that they’re scared and often quite confused about what is out in the world of social media. So trust in us, ask us about it, trust your nurse.”

She added: “We often hear that it’s a parent’s right to make decisions about their child

“Yes, but I counter that with asking about your social responsibility.

“Vaccines cannot be given to certain groups of people such as those receiving chemotherapy, immunosuppressants – you are putting them at risk as well.”

Ms Hamilton continued: “If your child had a severe nut allergy the school would ask pupils not to bring any peanuts in. So why are we allowing children to bring preventable, communicable diseases into schools?”

Claire Picton, from the RCN’s Emergency Care Association, said she was pro-vaccination but objected to language used by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

She said: “I took complete exception to Matt Hancock talking about antivaxxers. What sort of message is that sending to people?

“We are trying to educate people to vaccinate their children, not to make them feel that they are being bullied into something that they for whatever reason think is not right.”

Earlier this month, a team of Italian researchers recommended compulsory vaccination and warned that vaccination policies in the UK are not enough to control rising cases of measles.

Mr Hancock has said he “wouldn’t rule out anything” when asked whether unvaccinated children should be banned from schools.

Some parents are still hesitant in having their children immunised.