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The Defender’s senior science editor, Dr. Madhava Setty, joined host Brian Hooker, Ph.D., on CHD.TV’s “Doctors and Scientists” to share advice on how to talk about the COVID-19 vaccine with your doctor, friends and family while building and maintaining positive relationships.
“How do we prepare for these conversations?” Hooker asked.
Conversations with physicians and other medical personnel will be different than those with people outside the medical establishment, Setty said — but in both cases, we should approach the conversation thoughtfully and respectfully.
“We can’t communicate effectively by making enemies,” Hooker said.
Setty advised taking an approach that provokes curiosity, rather than going into a conversation with the intent to get the other person to “come to the other side.” He said it will take more than one conversation to change another person’s ideology.
Setty, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Baylor College of Medicine, was an anesthesiologist for more than 20 years before joining The Defender.
He described how doctors were traumatized at the beginning of the pandemic when they “were watching people die” but were given no solutions or treatment guidelines.
“It is traumatizing, as a physician, to be in a situation where you feel completely helpless,” Setty said. “We must regard [doctors] with compassion and love because their intent is good.”
To initiate a conversation, start by finding something you both can agree on, Setty said. Since doctors are trained to look at aggregate data instead of personal anecdotes, one place to start is by bringing up the COVID vaccine trial data.
“The vaccine trial data is a source that everyone should agree on,” Setty said.
After asking your doctor a few basic questions about the vaccine — Does it prevent COVID? Does it prevent transmission? — it’s time to ask the “million-dollar question,” Setty said: “In the Pfizer trial, how many people came down with severe COVID?”
Most doctors won’t know, Setty said. But according to the Initial trial data, out of 21,000 vaccinated and 21,000 unvaccinated participants, 10 people got severe COVID and had to be hospitalized.
That’s the data used to determine the vaccine’s efficacy, Setty said.
But how many people in Pfizer’s trial had to seek medical treatment for a severe adverse reaction to the vaccine?
The answer is 0.7%, or 7/1,000 — which means about 140 people sought medical treatment for a vaccine reaction.
If doctors are willing to accept that the trial data point to 90% efficacy, Setty argued, then they should also be able to admit that more people sought medical treatment for an adverse reaction to the vaccine, than were hospitalized for COVID.
Asking questions, rather than lecturing your doctor, is a better strategy for getting your physician to see that there is a double standard at play, Setty said.
“The whole point of this is cultural shift,” Hooker said.
“It’s not about being right, the purpose is to get this person to start questioning their belief system,” Setty said.
Watch the full episode here:
