Much of the vaccine communication campaigns I’ve seen are very summarized and glib. Vaccines are safe! Vaccine work! They don’t provide answers the ?s that so many have.
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In my experience, people who are on the fence about covid vaccines have a long list of questions that require nuanced answers. Most of these reasonable questions stem from disinformation spread widely on-line. But they must be answered.
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People w/ questions about vaccines are smart. They “do the research.” Unfortunately, that research is informed by rampant scientific-sounding disinformation. So they’re confused. They don’t inherently trust health officials. They aren’t going to just take their word on vaccines.
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We need to give detailed explanations for why the “studies” they’ve read is inaccurate. We need to explain the mechanism by which the vaccines work and why so much of what they’ve read is biological implausible.
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While the messages ultimately need to be delivered by local trusted leaders, health officials should provide the detailed evidence on vaccines and how they work. (I’ve seen incorrect info about this on official govt websites!!)
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Lots of medical and public health experts now calling on FDA to somehow authorize vaccines for kids <12, despite trials not being complete. I’d love to vax my young kids! But we haven’t made much progress in vaccinating teens. Vax uptake in teens low even in higher vax states.
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I’ve spoken to lots of parents who despite being vaccinated themselves have not vaccinated their teens. Though they felt okay taking risks themselves, they are worried and have lingering questions that they need addressed before they’ll consider vaccinating their kids.
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Vaccine mandates may lessen, but will not eliminate the need to address people’s hesitation and false beliefs about vaccines. Reports of falsified vaccination records portend why. Medical exemptions may be abused.
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Unfortunately, I haven’t seen concerted efforts to address people’s questions. We will not change hearts and minds through simplistic “vaccines are safe and work” messaging. That may have worked when there were high levels of trust in government and experts. But that’s not now.
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Finally vaccine disinformation on social media is literally killing us. I’ve been spending months trying to correct disinformation I see circulating in
@Facebook groups. Lots of people sharing links to discourage others from getting vaccinated. But it’s impossible to keep up!Show this thread -
As
@CCDHate has found, there are 12 original sources for the vast majority of the vaccine disinformation online. These people are pushing lies about vaccines for their own profit. They make $ while public health is drowning battling rising covid cases and hospitalizationsShow this thread -
We urgently need to do something to address people’s questions and combat disinformation about vaccines. This has been made ever more urgent with the false rising narrative that breakthrough infections mean vaccines done work. These vaccines continue to be lifesavers.
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End of conversation
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