From Hesitant to Hopeful: Why Some Parents Don’t Vaccinate—and How We Bridge the Gap

The PedsDocTalk Podcast: Child Health, Development & Parenting—From a Pediatrician Mom

Dr. Mona Amin

Medicine, Kids & Family, Health & Fitness, Parenting

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever paused at a vaccine insert, googled an ingredient, or felt torn between fear and science? Dr. Elisabeth Marnik (@sciencewhizliz) wasn’t vaccinated as a child. She grew up in an anti-vax household—but today, she’s a scientist, professor, and mom who vaccinates her own children and helps others feel informed, not fearful. 🧬 In this episode, we talk about what changed her mind—and how we move the conversation on vaccines away from shaming and toward shared values like protecting our kids. We cover: What it was like growing up unvaccinated and how becoming a mom changed her entire perspective How mistrust in larger systems (schools, government, healthcare) fuels vaccine resistance What people often get wrong about vaccine hesitancy—and why yelling never changes minds The difference between being anti-vax and vaccine-hesitant—and why reducing it to a binary doesn’t help anyone Her powerful quote: “The reason my mom didn’t vaccinate is the same reason I chose to vaccinate—because I want to protect my kids.” How science communicators can do a better job at discussing vaccines This conversation was inspired by one of her Substack pieces: 📖 Read it here To connect with Dr. Liz Marnik follow her on Instagram @sciencewhizliz, check out all her resources at https://open.substack.com/pub/fromthescienceclass and https://www.elisabethmarnikphd.com/. Check out the PedsDocTalk Vaccine Guide: https://pedsdoctalk.com/vaccine-guide/ We’d like to know who is listening! Please fill out our Listener Survey to help us improve the show and learn about you! 0:00 – Understanding the Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy 3:09 – Fear vs. Mistrust: What’s Really Going On? 6:27 – How Systemic Bias Shapes Medical Trust 9:30 – The Problem with the “Just Trust Us” Approach 12:37 – Too Much Information Can Backfire 15:35 – Common Parent Fears About Vaccines 18:45 – Conversations That Actually Shift Perspective 21:42 – Validating Without Agreeing 24:57 – When Curiosity Builds More Trust Than Convincing 28:00 – Small Wins That Add Up Our podcasts are also now on YouTube. If you prefer a video podcast with closed captioning, check us out there and ⁠subscribe to PedsDocTalk⁠. Get trusted pediatric advice, relatable parenting insights, and evidence-based tips delivered straight to your inbox—join thousands of parents who rely on the PDT newsletter to stay informed, supported, and confident. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠! And don’t forget to follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠@pedsdoctalkpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram—our new space just for parents looking for real talk and real support. We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on the ⁠PedsDocTalk Podcast Sponsorships⁠ page of the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And it was that experience of becoming a mom that really gave me compassion for how hard it is to be a parent and how hard it is to make decisions.
0:09.6	And at the end of the day, she wanted to keep me safe and she thought the best way to do that was to not vaccinate me.
0:17.2	And I want to keep my kids safe and I know the best way to do that is to vaccinate them.
0:21.1	And that's why they are both fully vaccinated on time, even though that is not what I experienced as my own childhood.
0:32.4	Hey friends, it's Dr. Mona, your favorite online pediatrician and mom friend.
0:36.8	Welcome back to the show. I want to start
0:39.5	with a little honesty today. Before the pandemic and during the pandemic, when someone questioned
0:44.7	vaccines, I'd assume that they weren't going to vaccinate. I felt like I was going to be wasting
0:50.1	my time, my breath, but over the last few years, something shifted. I realized that there's
0:55.7	a big difference between spreading dangerous misinformation and being vaccine, curious, or hesitant.
1:02.6	One group is loud, harmful, and often rooted in conspiracy. The other, which is the larger group,
1:09.0	is often a curious parent just trying to protect their
1:11.8	child, unsure who to trust, and wanting to make the best choice that they can. Even when I don't
1:18.1	agree with someone's decisions from a medical or evidence-based perspective, I do believe that
1:23.1	most parents are doing what they think is best for their kids. As a pediatrician, I stand firm in
1:29.3	facts and call out falsehoods, but I've also learned that compassion and curiosity are what
1:33.4	actually moved the needle. During the pandemic, I watched fellow science communicators use fear
1:38.4	or shame to try to convince people, and to me, that's not much better than the anti-vaccine
1:43.2	rhetoric we were up against.
1:45.0	I actually pulled back from COVID vaccine messaging for a bit, not because I didn't believe in the
1:50.0	science, but because I wanted to recalibrate, to find a way to share the facts without losing
1:55.3	trust and without making false promises while sticking to science. It's also why I continue to educate on vaccines and the
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