Scare tactics, bullying, and fearmongering come to mind...the dr will initmidate the parent, laying out the worst scene possible for the parent to imagine, and BAM!, the scare tactic worked, and the parent agreed to vax.
What other propaganda tactics have you seen used to coerce parents?
I can honestly say IRL I have never been subject to coercive tactics to get me to vaccinate. I try to avoid medical practictioners that would even try and where I live people just aren't as militant about this as most of the country (as you would know!). Not saying it isn't out there, but people tend to be more respectful of your decsions, and even though non vaxers and selective/delayed vaxers are still in the minority, it is sizable enough group for people to accept.
Yes, I am very thankful our family physician didn't try to push it. When he brought it up, and we politely declined, he nodded, mentioned a lot more parents aren't doing it these days and kids don't really seem to need them anyway because they're typically not exposed to these diseases much anyway, asked us to sign a waiver, and fully defended us when the nurse raised a fuss about it. A lot of coercing tactics depend on the state you live in. Here in Michigan, all three forms of excuses are accepted, so the ones that don't like non-vaxers pretty much just keep their mouths shut about it. In fact I met a mom with 2 kids in our same doctor's office that didn't vax. She had a "3 foot and no touch" rule with her kids when meeting infants(our son was just a few months old at the time and she wanted to protect him from anything her mobile children might have been carrying).
I got the "But your child could diiiiieeeeeee!" response from a doctor when I mentioned not being interested in the chickenpox vax. I switched to a doctor who could discuss the subject in a rational manner.
Sigh... All over Austin, TX are huge billboards with various Vax-pushing slogans, scare quotes, and the like. It makes me feel every bit as icky as the pro-life billboards. Of course, all the same pro-vax posters are all over the doc offices and some other public places. We recently stopped seeing a doctor who's go-to response to our declining vaccination was "You do realize your'e putting your child at risk of serious injury, and even death." just before passing me off to the disappointed looking nurse with the waiver to sign. UGH. When we were going there, I was not feeling quite as empowered as I do these days, or my obvious response would have been "The same risk applies to agreeing to vaccinate, if not greater risk". I'm not one to have debates over such things with a pedi, though, since his mind is clearly made up and I am just trying to get through the appointment with two young kids. The judgement and strong disapproval from people who are fanatically pro-vax is pretty uncomfortable, but I don't have the energy to waste arguing my personal and parental choices on deaf ears. I am not a salesperson, nor do I aspire to be. I'm not really trying to "save lives" by debunking vax myths on either side of the argument. I'm just trying to do right by my children based on what I've read and learned, and mostly based on the lack of long-term research and weighing risks.
However, I am glad this happened:
Guilt was a major one for me. When my LO was 8 months old he had a very high fever followed by a rash that covered his entire body. I had no idea what it was and I was very worried so I took him to the children's hospital to be examined. The pediatrician we saw immediately asked if our LO was vaccinated and I said no. He responded by saying "Not vaccinating your child is like not putting them in a car seat when you drive. You could get your son killed." 
This was honestly the most heartbreaking thing anyone has ever said to me about not vaccinating my LO. I almost caved right there to agree to getting him vaccinated, but thankfully my husband stepped in and told the pediatrician off.
Guilt was a major one for me. When my LO was 8 months old he had a very high fever followed by a rash that covered his entire body. I had no idea what it was and I was very worried so I took him to the children's hospital to be examined. The pediatrician we saw immediately asked if our LO was vaccinated and I said no. He responded by saying "Not vaccinating your child is like not putting them in a car seat when you drive. You could get your son killed." This was honestly the most heartbreaking thing anyone has ever said to me about not vaccinating my LO. I almost caved right there to agree to getting him vaccinated, but thankfully my husband stepped in and told the pediatrician off.
That's terrible! Doctors should take a few courses in tact before earning their title.
Guilt was a major one for me. When my LO was 8 months old he had a very high fever followed by a rash that covered his entire body. I had no idea what it was and I was very worried so I took him to the children's hospital to be examined. The pediatrician we saw immediately asked if our LO was vaccinated and I said no. He responded by saying "Not vaccinating your child is like not putting them in a car seat when you drive. You could get your son killed." This was honestly the most heartbreaking thing anyone has ever said to me about not vaccinating my LO. I almost caved right there to agree to getting him vaccinated, but thankfully my husband stepped in and told the pediatrician off.
Almost the same thing happened to me when I took my infant into the ER because I thought my older kids may have injured his hand by playing too rough with him. I was in there for an xray and they took his temp. I didn't realize he had a slight temp. They asked me about his shots and I told them that he didn't have any. Immediately they wanted to run blood tests and get a urine sample using a cath! I told the doctor that before ordering such tests they should look for some obvious things first. Check his nose, throat and ears! The doctor sat there and told me that ear infections don't cause fevers and that he was ordering the tests because I was neglectful in not vaccinating him. I told that doctor that we were leaving and I would be taking my child to ped's office the next morning. When I arrived the next day, the ped told me that that ER doctor had called him the night before! My ped laughed with me about the ear infections not causing fevers.
Some people really have some nerve. Some doctors really like to throw their education in your face. That ER also tried to tell me that he was a doctor and it was something he went through many years of school for. And that I should let him do his job. I would have let him do his job...if he hadn't demonstrated how stupid he was right off the bat.
Almost the same thing happened to me when I took my infant into the ER because I thought my older kids may have injured his hand by playing too rough with him. I was in there for an xray and they took his temp. I didn't realize he had a slight temp. They asked me about his shots and I told them that he didn't have any. Immediately they wanted to run blood tests and get a urine sample using a cath! I told the doctor that before ordering such tests they should look for some obvious things first. Check his nose, throat and ears! The doctor sat there and told me that ear infections don't cause fevers and that he was ordering the tests because I was neglectful in not vaccinating him. I told that doctor that we were leaving and I would be taking my child to ped's office the next morning. When I arrived the next day, the ped told me that that ER doctor had called him the night before! My ped laughed with me about the ear infections not causing fevers.
Some people really have some nerve. Some doctors really like to throw their education in your face. That ER also tried to tell me that he was a doctor and it was something he went through many years of school for. And that I should let him do his job. I would have let him do his job...if he hadn't demonstrated how stupid he was right off the bat.
That's terrible :( It almost sounds like (to me at least), doctors assume the worst just because your kiddos aren't vaccinated. That pediatrician didn't even address my LO's problems and wouldn't give us any advice on what to do . . we were scared out of our minds especially being first time parents. We ended up taking LO to a different ped who said it was Roseola and we treated him naturally at home. Honestly, a doctor's education means crap to me now. If I want a doctor's advice on vaccines, I'll ask for it, but until then they should just stick to their job (especially ER docs) and help parents with what they are there for.
That's terrible :( It almost sounds like (to me at least), doctors assume the worst just because your kiddos aren't vaccinated. That pediatrician didn't even address my LO's problems and wouldn't give us any advice on what to do . . we were scared out of our minds especially being first time parents. We ended up taking LO to a different ped who said it was Roseola and we treated him naturally at home. Honestly, a doctor's education means crap to me now. If I want a doctor's advice on vaccines, I'll ask for it, but until then they should just stick to their job (especially ER docs) and help parents with what they are there for.
I agree which is why when my DS was 18 months ols and fell out of a shopping cart on his head and we were in the ER and they asked if he was up to date on vaccines I said yes. His vaccination status had absolutely nothing to do with why we were there and I didn't want to take the cahnce Id get grief about it and the focus would not be on the problem at hand!
Our ped did the scare tactic once - she did have a student dr with her that day so I wondered if her over-the-top response was more to put on a show for him - it was for the first round of multi-vaxxes (which DD reacte the worst to and unltimately made me decide to stop vaxxing). She sounded like she was reading off a list in a textbook - every horrible thing that could possibly happen from each and every disease. Not a word about vaccine reactions.
She no longer pushes the vaxxes every visit but as an early warning of things to come she did mention last visit that we can discuss what to do to "catch her up" when it comes time to go to school - because they are "required to be vaxxed". No thank you, no they aren't and really, I hate to think I'm being assumed to be oblivious - that I somehow came to the conclusion to not vax but put no thought into what I would do for school "requirements"!?
The signs everywhere kill me. I work for a town building department and we handle all sign permits for temporary and permanent signs - including all the foldout signs for pharmacies and such. I hate when they come in pushing shots to "protect your babies". I also got annoyed by all the bulletin board signs that were hanging up offering free flu shots for employees...I took them down one day lol! It was nuts, I came in one morning to find one taped to the end of my upper desk cabinet and I had enough, I took the mail down and proceeded to pull them off of every bulletin board I walked by :-P
And by far the worst was the postcard and voicemail I recieved about 6mos ago saying my child "might be behind on some vaccines" and to call my ped and schedule an appt. The card was not from the ped, it was from a pharmacutical company. And the more I looked into it, it was generated by our insurance carrier which meant that somewhere along the line, someone was looking into my daughter's medial files, saw "missing" vaccines, and sent the info to the pharm company. No one with our insurance got any of these (we have friends with kids same age range that work with DH and his job is where our insurance is through), and no one else we know with kids on other insurance got anything like this - all their kids are fully vaxxed. I did file a complaint (the web address escapes me right now but it's a *itch to navigate the site to actually find the form to file a complaint) and sited HIPPA vioaltion as the reason - haven't heard anything back as of yet although I don't know that they respond anyways.
I dunno but experience tells me that if someone is bullying or using scare tactics to get you to do something, it generally means they are ful, of crap and you should do the opposite of what they say. Honesty and transparency go alot further than lies and deceit but that's the way they roll.
Our ped did the scare tactic once - she did have a student dr with her that day so I wondered if her over-the-top response was more to put on a show for him - it was for the first round of multi-vaxxes (which DD reacte the worst to and unltimately made me decide to stop vaxxing). She sounded like she was reading off a list in a textbook - every horrible thing that could possibly happen from each and every disease. Not a word about vaccine reactions.
She no longer pushes the vaxxes every visit but as an early warning of things to come she did mention last visit that we can discuss what to do to "catch her up" when it comes time to go to school - because they are "required to be vaxxed". No thank you, no they aren't and really, I hate to think I'm being assumed to be oblivious - that I somehow came to the conclusion to not vax but put no thought into what I would do for school "requirements"!?
The signs everywhere kill me. I work for a town building department and we handle all sign permits for temporary and permanent signs - including all the foldout signs for pharmacies and such. I hate when they come in pushing shots to "protect your babies". I also got annoyed by all the bulletin board signs that were hanging up offering free flu shots for employees...I took them down one day lol! It was nuts, I came in one morning to find one taped to the end of my upper desk cabinet and I had enough, I took the mail down and proceeded to pull them off of every bulletin board I walked by :-P
And by far the worst was the postcard and voicemail I recieved about 6mos ago saying my child "might be behind on some vaccines" and to call my ped and schedule an appt. The card was not from the ped, it was from a pharmacutical company. And the more I looked into it, it was generated by our insurance carrier which meant that somewhere along the line, someone was looking into my daughter's medial files, saw "missing" vaccines, and sent the info to the pharm company. No one with our insurance got any of these (we have friends with kids same age range that work with DH and his job is where our insurance is through), and no one else we know with kids on other insurance got anything like this - all their kids are fully vaxxed. I did file a complaint (the web address escapes me right now but it's a *itch to navigate the site to actually find the form to file a complaint) and sited HIPPA vioaltion as the reason - haven't heard anything back as of yet although I don't know that they respond anyways.
I dunno but experience tells me that if someone is bullying or using scare tactics to get you to do something, it generally means they are ful, of crap and you should do the opposite of what they say. Honesty and transparency go alot further than lies and deceit but that's the way they roll.
We just got something along the lines of this too.. only it says it's from the Health Department. It lists all the vaccines, and is highlighted in yellow all the ones "he needs", and the dates they were overdue by. I've just been ignoring it. Should I actually file a complaint?
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