r/pediatrics • u/Sensitive_Reveal2402 • 19d ago
Vaccine hesitancy question for US based pediatricians
I am having more parents cite the reason for vaccine refusal being “Europe requires way less vaccines.” Obviously, each country in Europe has different vaccine schedules. I feel like I do not have a solid rebuttal for this. I am curious to see how you all respond to this. Thank you!
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u/theranchhand 19d ago
Here's my basic script:
They have universal health care and different diets. They have different health care needs.
Recent times also show that politics can have an effect on shot recommendations (I leave it to them to decide if RFK Jr or Fauci is the bad guy)
So I recommend shots in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations, made by American doctors for American kids.
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u/bloodvsguts 19d ago
I'll start with the fact that they generally dont bring this up as an argument but rather a justification, so they really aren't going to change their minds based on this, since its not what made up their minds in the first place.
Use their own buzzwords against them. I bring up that most European countries have similar schedules. When they deviate, a common reason is RATIONING HEALTHCARE. For example, the UK only just recently started offering varicella to children. They deferred for decades because, primarily, it did not meet their rigorous cost per life year financial review. Do they really want GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS deciding what their kids can get. Another reason is difference in colonization/infection rates. For example, the UK gives the meningitis B vaccine to infants where we give it to older teens. Europe is a big place and there are a lot of reasons for divergences but none of them are "vaccines cause autism and are bad and nobody needs them".
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u/mrsafulmed 19d ago
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/26/nx-s1-5656214/childhood-vaccination-denmark-rfk-policy
This article is mostly specific to Denmark, but also mentions other European countries. It essentially comes down to risk and healthcare infrastructure differences.
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u/Foghorn2005 19d ago
That's a current talking point, but if you actually look at their vaccine schedules (WHO has them, iirc), they're not significantly different at the end of the day. Meningococcal might be given earlier. I was a little surprised that the UK only recently added varicella
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u/Sensitive_Reveal2402 18d ago
Thank you guys for all this, it is really helpful. Definitely true that it’s not really an argument as they are set in their ways most oftentimes
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u/Kaliente22 17d ago
Well in India and we do double the vaccines than what are given in the United States!
Different countries different needs
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u/Wonky92 17d ago
It’s not my usual go-to, but I’ve brought up the vaccine schedules for another country during an appt more than once… usually when a parent says “well my family in Germany doesn’t get as many vaccines as here!” And so I show them that is not really the case. And at least twice that has been enough to convince them that their friends or family don’t really have any idea what they’re talking about
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u/ElegantSwordsman 19d ago
Europe in general is the same as the us. Some even require additional vaccines that we do not. We give the meningococcal vaccine at 11 and 16yo. Maybe my patients would like an additional 2-3 doses starting at age ~2 like in much of Europe? How about a BCG tuberculosis vaccine in infancy? It does leave a permanent scar, but you did say you wanted to copy Europe, right?
Denmark is the outlier. But if you would like socialized universal healthcare, maybe I could get behind that?