Patients I have known for many years

Have treated them and their families

We have bonded in what is a true "patient-doctor" relationship

Here is my dilemma —

I have asked myself often

How should I feel when my patients say they will not get the vaccine?

I pause to think

I feel helplessness

I feel frustration

I do not feel anger or dislike

I tell them my thoughts and evidence-based belief

I try my best to convince them

And then … I let it go ...

As I drive home

A thought stays with me:

Do I stop feeling affection for the patient?

No! I cannot do that

I am sure my colleagues feel this way

We are all helpless

We have no solution

Just want these difficult days to pass.