Dr. Scott Schiff-Slater is a logical guy. When he was deciding a career path, he considered three things: he wanted to help people. He wanted to live in a rural area. And he loved science.
"I actually sat down and figured out, if I combine those three, what would I do? And this was sort of my logical conclusion," Schiff-Slater said.
But after more than three decades as a family physician in Hallowell, Schiff-Slater said he now struggles to make sense of the public's eroding trust in medicine. During the Covid pandemic, he'd take extra time to address safety concerns raised by patients who were wary of mRNA vaccines. He'd even draw diagrams to show how they work.
"People were interested," he said. "People would say, 'Oh, tell me about that.' And I'd show people and explain."
But Schiff-Slater said he doesn't do that anymore. Skeptical patients don't want to discuss it.
"We've kind of agreed to disagree," he said. "And we smile about it, and patients will say, 'Oh yes, You love those vaccines, don't you doctor?'"
These interactions leave Schiff-Slater frustrated — and worried: about his patients' health, and the misinformation that drives these decisions.
"And it's kind of like the battle is lost," he said.
Schiff-Slater's efforts to offer evidence-based recommendations come as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior makes changes to federal agencies that oversee public health. Kennedy recently gutted a federal vaccine advisory committee and replaced its members with vaccine skeptics, declaring it a "major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines". Earlier this month, major medical groups sued Kennedy for scaling back Covid vaccine recommendations. They accused him of injecting misinformation, confusion, and distrust into the doctor-patient relationship.
It's an issue that Waterville-based internal medicine physician Dr. David Preston confronts in his exam room. He says some of his skeptical patients have suffered real consequences after declining the Covid vaccine.
"One of them came very near to dying and has long Covid and has never recovered," Preston said. "And he did come in and, he said, 'Oh gosh, you know, I made a mistake.'"
Preston said it's likely just a matter of time before another pandemic arrives.
"I worry about our ability to control that because you've got this sort of built-in segment of the population that isn't going to go along with the public health measures that are needed to control a serious pandemic," he said.
Preston points to the current U.S. measles outbreak — fueled by low vaccination rates — in which cases have reached their highest point in more than 30 years.
Misinformation about health care isn't new, but it has accelerated in recent years. In 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory calling misinformation — spurred by social media and political polarization — a serious threat to public health.
"It's really a daily encounter for us in pediatrics," said Dr. Rebecca Brakeley, a pediatric hospitalist at Central Maine Healthcare.
She said many parents have been swayed through social media to be more fearful of vaccines than the diseases they prevent.
"There's a lot more people with information that they're not sure what to do with," Brakeley said. "And so parents are really sorting through a lot more than ever before."
Dr. AnnMarie Lattanzi, an emergency medicine physician with Brunswick-based BlueWater Health Partners, sees misinformation's influence even during emergencies. Some patients with internal bleeding reject blood transfusions because they're worried the donor received the Covid vaccine. Others turn to social media platforms instead of doctors for advice.
"I've even had an instance where somebody was having a heart attack and was recommended to get the clot busting medications, and wanted to check with their Facebook group before receiving the medications," Lattanzi said.
Lattanzi urges people to remember that physicians have spent years of training to gain expertise. But she understands how difficult it can be for patients in the modern world.
"It must be exhausting to feel like that's your responsibility to be making those decisions," she said. "Actually what I want people to feel is that, that's the role of your physicians to make those decisions with you and share that information with you."
And if you do seek information online, she said, make sure it's from a credible source.
Dr. Scott Schiff-Slater demonstrates how challenging that can sometimes be as he types in a website on his office computer.
"Sorry, I'm a terrible typist...website....dot gov....It's actually literally a dot-gov website," Slater says as he types.
He's pulling up a new site hosted by whitehouse.gov that's dedicated to the theory that Covid was leaked from a laboratory. It presents the leak theory as established fact, and lists several false or misleading statements about the virus.
"This is a scary website to me," Schiff-Slater said. "I look at it and I can't even read it."
Schiff-Slater said he's worried finding correct information could become even more difficult in the future.
The physicians who spoke to Maine Public for this story recommend several credible sources, including the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Dana Farber, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and your doctor.
