Dr. Ryan Hassan Answers Parent Questions about the COVID Vaccine for Kids

COVID vaccines will soon be available for Oregon kids ages 5 and older. Yesterday, the CDC recommended the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for ages 5 – 11. On November 3, OPS Member Ryan Hassan, MD, MPH, spoke with OPB’s Think Out Loud about the concerns families may have about the vaccine.

“As much as I, as a provider, might want all of my patients to get the vaccine, that’s not my decision to make,” Dr. Hassan said. “And if I just tell people, ‘No, this is what you need to do,’ that’s not going to help them feel more comfortable with the decision. It’s not going to encourage them to make a decision. It’s only going to alienate them from health care and be more likely to drive them to less reputable sources of information. So it’s important to recognize and respect people’s autonomy, and that’s what I try to do.”

Listen to the full interview.