Vaccine Hesitancy: How COVID-19 Changed the Tone, with Gretchen LaSalle, MD

"Vaccine-hesitant people are a broad group of folks, many of whom have had vaccines themselves but then have heard something that's just made them nervous, and need a chance to talk about those questions and concerns."

Gretchen LaSalle, MD, made this observation in an interview with Patient Care^® while discussing "the state" of vaccine hesitancy in the US right now. She points out that vaccine hesitancy is certainly not a new phenomenon, born of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that in her practice as a family physician she has seen an increase in immunization reluctance over time.

But the pandemic has altered the tone of vaccine hesitancy, she says.

In the following interview, LaSalle, a family medicine speicalist and author of the recent book Let's Talk Vaccines: A Clinician's Guide to Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and Saving Lives, talks about the shift in vaccine sentiment.

Part 2: Booster Fatigue, Vaccines are for Kids, and Other Obstacles to Adult Immunization in Primary Care

Part 3. "Vaccination is More of a Marathon than a Sprint, so Keep Listening”

Part 4: Persistent Vaccine Skepticism Can Erode Clinician Confidence in their Own Recommendations

Gretchen LaSalle, MD, is a family physician with the MultiCare health system in Spokane, WA, and clinical associate professor for the Washington State University, Elson S Floyd College of Medicine, also in Spokane. LaSalle is a speaker and an author, most recently of the book, Let's Talk Vaccines: A Clinician's Guide to Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and Saving Lives. She has served as clinical preceptor for the University of Washington MEDEX program and other training programs for physician assistants and nurse practioners.

Twitter: @GretchenLasalle