Amidst a landscape of political distrust and misinformation, medical professionals at Pitt are navigating challenges in vaccine administration.<\/p>\n
Robert Kennedy Jr, the Trump-appointed Secretary for the Department of Health<\/a> and Human Services, has induced some national anxieties<\/a> surrounding vaccine reliability \u2014 including when he cited several debunked and incorrect studies<\/a> to falsely link vaccines to autism<\/a>. In response to RFK\u2019s vaccine skepticism, some states \u2014 including Pennsylvania \u2014 are trying to protect vaccine access. Earlier this month, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order <\/a>to protect vaccination access across the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cynthia Chew, an assistant professor of nursing and a pediatric nurse practitioner at UPMC, expressed regret over the increase in cases of preventable disease \u2014 including illnesses such as measles, which people can vaccinate against with the MMR vaccine.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOne death from a vaccine-preventable disease is too many,\u201d Chew said.<\/p>\n Miranda Yaver, an assistant professor in health policy and political science, noted the unreliability of the study<\/a> RFK used to make claims of childhood vaccination leading to autism.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that all of this [vaccine skepticism] came about [from] a study that was retracted,\u201d Yaver said. \u201c[It] was so bad that the lead author lost his medical license<\/a>. But this information is enduring. It is sort of sticky and people get hardwired.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nicholas Sandulli, an assistant professor of nursing and a family medicine nurse practitioner at UPMC, said the mistrust in vaccines for eliminated diseases \u2014 such as chicken pox \u2014 is because people might not remember the severity of the illnesses they\u2019re being vaccinated against.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a result of us being so privileged for so long to not even remember what it\u2019s like to be sick,\u201d Sandulli said.<\/p>\n Jackie Calhoun, an assistant professor in nursing and pediatric nurse practitioner at UPMC,\u00a0 cited social media as a large proponent of vaccine disinformation<\/a>. Disinformation refers to false or misleading information with the purpose of deception, unlike misinformation, which is shared without the intent to deceive.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the way people get a lot of their information now is in echo chambers<\/a> and in places that validate the beliefs that they already have,\u201d Calhoun said.<\/p>\n Jonna Morris, a nursing professor at the School of Nursing<\/a>, who teaches NURS1128 \u201cCommunity Health Nursing,\u201d thinks people are hesitant to vaccinate because of a growing sense of individualism<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing for everybody is to get vaccines,\u201d Morris said. \u201cBut in the United States, there\u2019s this [widespread] idea of [bodily] autonomy and \u2018nobody\u2019s going to tell me what to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania<\/a>, children are required to have Tdap, polio, MMR, Hepatitis B and varicella vaccinations to attend public schools. RFK has attacked <\/a>some of these vaccines, including the MMR and mRNA vaccines.<\/p>\n State<\/a> requirements differ across the nation, and federal<\/a> vaccination requirements don\u2019t always align with the states. Sandulli said the differences in state and federal vaccine requirements might increase Americans\u2019 confusion surrounding vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a layperson, you don\u2019t know if you should listen to the CDC or the FDA or the state of Pennsylvania,\u201d Sandulli said. \u201cIt kind of plays into that situation of mistrust.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, the CDC changed its recommendations for childhood vaccines <\/a>and nationwide COVID vaccines<\/a>. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices<\/a> changed its vaccination schedule this past August.<\/a><\/p>\n Constantly changing vaccine recommendations<\/a> might affect how insurance covers vaccinations, according to Chew.<\/p>\n \u201c[ACIP\u2019s schedule of vaccines is] how insurance companies know which vaccines should be covered,\u201d Chew said. \u201cPeople who are uninsured or underinsured are going to be the ones who have limited access to vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n As a nurse practitioner, Calhoun tends to \u201cnegotiate\u201d with the vaccine-hesitant parents of her pediatric patients.<\/p>\n \u201cPoking a baby over and over again can make parents very anxious, so maybe [we] can negotiate spreading [the vaccines] out,\u201d Calhoun said. \u201cMaybe they\u2019re not getting five shots at a time, but they\u2019re getting like one or two or three instead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Morris organized a mass vaccination clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said people were still hesitant<\/a> about trusting vaccinations during these clinics.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were even questioning whether they were going to [get vaccinated] even after they came up and sat in the chair,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n Calhoun said Americans\u2019 attitudes toward vaccines and public health measures during COVID was encouraging to see.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really awesome to see everyone take all of the preventative measures that we were trying to do, like masking and social distancing,\u201d Calhoun said.<\/p>\n Though the pandemic is officially over<\/a>, Morris still encourages nurses to promote conversations about vaccines to their patients.<\/p>\n \u201cNurses are some of the most trusted healthcare providers out there,\u201d Morris said. \u201cA lot of times, nurses don\u2019t realize their credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon Barratt-Boyes, a professor of infectious diseases and microbiology, said the current presidential administration promotes vaccine distrust by denying the science behind public health.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe government serves as a voice for the people,\u201d Barratt-Boyes said. \u201c[People] get their advice from the government about how to handle vaccines and public health.\u201d<\/p>\n Yaver believes that the bipartisan split<\/a> over immunization regulations played a key role in the attitude surrounding vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n