October 29, 2025
It was wonderful to see so many OPS members in person at the September 2025 AAP National Conference & Exhibition (NCE) in Denver! It’s always motivating and encouraging to connect with colleagues from across the country—sharing stories, challenges, and inspiration as we continue this work together.
Vaccines were a hot topic (again). One particularly powerful session featured Julie Sweetland, Ph.D., from the FrameWorks Institute, who also spoke at the AAP Leadership Conference this summer. She discussed how strategic framing can help us reshape our vaccine messaging to meet people where they are.
Key takeaways:
- Focus on long-term wellbeing. Move away from “risk” language toward how vaccines help children grow, learn, and thrive.
- Highlight the common good. Shift the conversation to community wellbeing—vaccines protect everyone. Frame vaccination as a preventive health measure and collective responsibility to ensure access and safety for all.
- Reframe the metaphor. Talk less about “shields” and “battles.” Instead, use metaphors like software updates or literacy to describe how vaccines strengthen the immune system’s responses.
If you find this approach interesting, you can explore another of Dr. Sweetland’s lectures: How to Counter Public Health Myths and Elevate Science Now.
For the highest impact, the AAP encourages pediatricians to have open, personalized immunization conversations with families in the moveable middle. Address specific fears or misinformation with the science behind how vaccines work, data about safety, and your collaborative partnership in keeping kids healthy. A fall 2025 KKF survey found that pediatricians remain the most trusted source of vaccine information for parents. 85% of parents across political divides said they trust their child’s pediatrician on vaccines.
Get involved:
- Connect with Oregon Families for Vaccines.
- Learn more about empowering vaccine confidence through motivational interviewing from Boost Oregon.
- Contact your legislators. Schedule time to meet with them when they are out of session. Not sure who to contact? Access our list of resources at the bottom of our advocacy page.
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
— Robert F. Kennedy, June 6, 1966, “Ripple of Hope” Speech
