Vaccine Counseling Requires Persistent Communication, Building Trust, and Evidence-Based Information

This roundtable series, Clinical Insights: Childhood Vaccine Schedule Changes, discusses ongoing changes to the pediatric vaccine schedule, the inner workings of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and how these changes are impacting US public health.

In this episode, the panelists discuss the evolving landscape of immunization guidelines and the importance of maintaining clinical integrity. In particular, they express concern that official recommendations from ACIP are increasingly influenced by factors unrelated to clinical data and science, and advise health care professionals to rely instead on professional societies.

Additionally, the experts emphasize a shift toward shared clinical decision-making, aiming to provide patient education that empowers individuals to make informed choices for their families. They advocate for persistent communication, noting that building trust and providing evidence-based information often requires multiple conversations over time.

Ultimately, the dialogue frames the current challenges in health care communication as an opportunity for health care professionals to refine how they promote public health through sustainable advocacy.

This series features insights from a panel of health care professionals:

• Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, PharmD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy and antimicrobial resistance researcher at the University of California San Diego
• Sharon Nachman, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Stony Brook Children's Hospital, New York
• Mary Koslap-Petraco, DNP, PNP-BC, CPNP, clinical assistant professor at Stony Brook University School of Nursing in New York
• William Schaffner, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee

The full series can be viewed here on Contagion Live.