11/18 Thx to fantastic research by Nicola Klein, Tod Merkel & others (and loads of my past reporting), the pertussis vaccine is well known to prevent disease but not infection. Same with influenza, pneumococcal & rotavirus vaccines.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/baboon-study-reveals-new-shortcoming-of-pertussis-vaccine/ …
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12/18 Since
@DLeonhardt spoke to@DrPaulOffit, developer of rotavirus vaccine, you’d think he’d have asked him abt rotavirus vaccine limitations. That's what I did before this thread bc I have a long-standing source relationship w Offit—bc I've reported for a decade on vaccines.1 reply 4 retweets 88 likesShow this thread -
13/18 Since pertussis, influenza & pneumococcal are all respiratory, there’s good reason not to say the Covid vaccine will prevent transmission until we *actually have data to say so.* The worst thing we can do is suggest it does, find out it doesn’t—and lose public trust.
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14/18 Also 95% effectiveness does *not* “understate” the effectiveness. In reality, real-life effectiveness is often lower than efficacy (which
@DLeonhardt would have known if he’d read my@AHCJ piece to journalists on the nuances of vaccine effectiveness)https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2020/10/know-the-nuances-of-vaccine-efficacy-when-covering-covid-19-vaccine-trials/ …5 replies 14 retweets 123 likesShow this thread -
15/18 Here’s what we know abt Covid vaccines: they’re very safe. They have some anaphylactic reactions that have been well managed & caused no deaths. They’ve been extremely effective in clinical trials. We expect the same in real life. We don’t know if they prevent transmission.
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16/18 The final italicized paragraphs in Leonhardt’s piece are pretty good messaging. And they ARE what public health experts are conveying. But they’re doing it smartly, relying on research about vaccine hesitancy & using evidence-based communication to build public trust.pic.twitter.com/2YshofKafS
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17/18
@DLeonhardt, on the other hand, is undermining public health by framing his “trust how great the vaccine is” message in the context of claiming that experts aren’t being honest with the public. I genuinely don’t know a better way to give anti-vaccine advocacy oxygen.2 replies 9 retweets 91 likesShow this thread -
18/fin I’ll have a blog post at AHCJ coming soon on this bc I’m so frustrated w vaccine hot takes from journalists who lack experience & knowledge abt vaccine reporting. The stakes are high for irresponsible, ignorant reporting: harming public health.https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2019/03/writing-about-vaccine-hesitancy-theres-a-study-for-that/ …
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adding 19/ I should add: the quotes from
@DrPaulOffit@ashishkjha@PeterHotez &@AaronRichterman are great. All are spot on & cld have been well used in a thoughtful article about how we're underselling the vaccine—in the hands of a reporter who understands the vaccine landscape.9 replies 4 retweets 98 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @tarahaelle @DrPaulOffit and
In reality, as it often is the case, it took someone outside the wagon circling mindset to write the very overdue article! This has been a problem since December and everytime I and others raised it, we got wagon-circling. With this mindset, we won’t learn anything. Tragic, tbh.
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Also, if we’re focusing on role of outsiders & public health, I may use this as an example to write about the groupthink so common in health journalism throughout the pandemic—most prominent being the many baseless antimasking articles— and response to criticism by wagoncircling.
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