The Vaccine Tax Force, founded by several Orthodox Jewish nurses, seeks to combat misinformation in New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, which has been particularly hard-hit by the worst measles outbreak in decades. The nurses are teaching physicians how to better respond to parents’ concerns, in addition to distributing thousands of booklets debunking vaccine myths to parents.
Physicians must listen to parents’ questions about vaccine science and answer the questions directly, said Blima Marcus, DNP, RN, an oncology nurse practitioner and one of the task force’s founders.
Physicians often don’t have much time to establish relationships with patients, said Jeffrey Teitelbaum, MD, a pediatrician and director of Ezra Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Dr. Marcus’s group, which offers data points and studies that physicians can share with parents, can help physicians maintain those relationships, Dr. Teitelbaum added.
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