Shots are never a fun experience. Even if you are enthusiastic about vaccines, holding your kids as they get them is not usually a high point of parenting. And right now, the conversation about vaccines is increasingly fraught - and not just because our kids are sometimes afraid of needles.

Because we're living in a moment where vaccines, long one of the most trusted and studied preventative medical treatments in existence, are suddenly being viewed with skepticism. Debunked theories about the relationship between vaccines and autism, for example, are taking center stage on Instagram and Facebook, but also in congressional hearings. Part of the problem is a lack of understanding. People don't know quite how vaccines work or why there are more now than in the past or how we can know that they are safe.

Today on ParentData, we welcome Dr. Adam Davis. Adam is a pediatrician in the Bay Area, and he has a lot to say about vaccines from the perspective of someone who gives them. In the conversation, we talk about our theories on why the COVID vaccine sped up a slow-growing movement around vaccine skepticism, about the role that vaccines play in public health, about what it’s like for doctors to deal with vaccine skeptics in their own practice and what people can and can't be talked into or out of, and, because it’s a parenting podcast, some hacks for getting your kids through vaccines without too much drama.

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All About Vaccines: Why they’re important, and how to make them more tolerable for your child