With patience and respect, Montreal doctor convinced vaccine-hesitant co-worker to get her shots
CBC
When Monique Dupriez saw her family, friends and colleagues lining up to get vaccinated, she was adamant: There was no way she would be getting a shot.
"I had a reaction to a vaccine when I was a child and I lost a daughter who reacted to a vaccine, so I was hesitant to take it," Dupriez said quietly.
The patient attendant at Montreal's CHUM hospital doesn't like to talk about the death of her daughter — she was only two — but that loss left a painful scar.
"I'm not anti-vaccine. I'm in favour of the vaccine for everyone else — just not me."
Enter Dr. Ingrid Marchand, who had rushed to get her shots as soon as she was eligible.
"We need to focus on the fact that we need to put ourselves aside and think about the community and think about the general fight against the pandemic and the virus," Marchand said.
Marchand and Dupriez have worked together in the emergency ward for nearly 15 years. When one of Dupriez' supervisors suggested she speak to Marchand about the vaccine, she went.
"She seemed very knowledgeable about the vaccine," said Dupriez, smiling at Marchand. "She told me she cares for me."
Marchand says, after 18 months of working in a pandemic, staff are just plain tired.
"When we see that most people that go to intensive care are unvaccinated it is difficult for me to understand. It seems obvious that this is a necessary tool to fight the pandemic and the virus," Marchand said.
The doctor said she gently tries to persuade unvaccinated COVID-19 patients to get the shot.
"I think we don't want to get into judgment and condemnation. I think we just need to keep talking to each other and explain to each other, try and answer questions and try to convince them that it's a good thing for them and for everybody else."
That's the approach she took with Dupriez.
"We had a few discussions over a few weeks," Marchand explained. "We took the time. It was very amicable, very friendly."
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