Suggestions on how to persuade hesitants to get vaccine shots.

They didn’t want to get Covid-19 shots. This is what convinced them. From encouragement from family to fears over new variants, this is what swayed vaccine holdouts. NBC News

...

In interviews with NBC News, individuals who were initially reluctant to get their vaccinations said nudging from family members, fears about emerging variants and having the ability to shrug off rumors about the shot were among the reasons they finally decided to roll up their sleeves, months after the shot became available.

... (graph)

Experts say convincing those on the fence comes down to helping them understand what is at stake.

“The risk-benefit balance that most people look at is between getting vaccine and not getting vaccine, and I think that’s not quite the right way to frame this,” said Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Mayo Clinic. “We should be thinking of this as getting vaccine versus getting Covid-19.”

What — or who — can convince someone to get vaccinated varies as much as the reasons a person might avoid the Covid-19 shot in the first place.

Objections range from suspicions over how quickly the vaccine was developed to questions over whether it will cause long-term health problems.

There are also misconceptions about the cost of the vaccine (it’s free), whether doctors profit from it (they don’t) and a viral fringe theory that claims the shot will implant a microchip in arms that enables the government to track people (it definitely doesn’t).

“It has brought out a lot of different communities that may not typically be anti-vaxxers,” said Dr. Emily Spivak, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at University of Utah Health.

While the vaccine was made at record speed, the technology for it had been in the works for years, Spivak said.

And though it is true that long-term safety data does not exist, the majority of reactions to any vaccine happen within minutes in the case of an allergy or within weeks to a couple months if there are other issues.

The best way to open a conversation about vaccine hesitancy is by respectfully listening to someone’s reasons for objecting, Rajapakse said.

“If you’re not addressing their reason, that’s not helpful,” she said. “There’s often emotional responses related to vaccination, and I think listening in an open way is important, and not jumping to conclusions or shaming them is important.” ...

The best bet, experts say, is connecting on personal issues that are meaningful. That will vary by individual.

In some families, parents of a newborn forbidding relatives from seeing the baby unless they get vaccinated may be the final push someone needs. In other circles, realizing that certain pre-pandemic activities, such as concerts, travel or sporting events, may continue to be restricted could be what gets someone to get vaccinated.

Those who want to sway a vaccine-reluctant family member or friend should go in with the hope to educate them, not necessarily to convince them, said Chivonna Childs, a counseling psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. That might mean asking them where they are getting their information about the vaccines.

“Encourage people to get information from reliable sources and just have purposeful, intentional conversations. No pressure, no arguments,” she said. ...