The COVID-19 vaccine communication handbook: A practical guide for improving vaccine communication and fighting misinformation (original) (raw)

Why vaccinations? Vaccines help people survive. Vaccines save 5 lives every minute. The eradication of smallpox-a serious disease that left even survivors scarred for life-alone saves an estimated 5 million lives every year. If a vaccine had not eradicated smallpox, someone would now die from the disease every 6 seconds of every day. Prior to the introduction of a vaccine, as recently as 1980, measles caused more than 2.6 million deaths globally. SUCCESS OF VACCINES Vaccines can only save lives if people are vaccinated. Fortunately, most people get vaccinated. For example, 85% of children worldwide are vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough), and in 125 countries that figure exceeds 90%. Why COVID-19 vaccinations? COVID-19 is a serious disease. In only 10 months the SARS-CoV-2 virus infected over 78 million people across the world, killing 1.7 million 1. COVID-19 patients require intensive care in hospital at a rate more than 6 times greater than during the influenza pandemic in 2009 2. Many survivors are faced with sometimes severe long-term health impacts 3,4. COVID-19 is not like the flu. It is more contagious, more deadly, and is spreading across a world where no-one was immune. 2 FACTS ABOUT COVID-19 While behavioral measures such as isolating while symptomatic, mask-wearing and physical distancing have slowed the spread of the virus, vaccines provide a better path out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and scientists have now developed several highly effective vaccines against COVID-19. BEHAVIORS TO CONTROL COVID-19 DETERMINANTS OF COVID-19 VACCINE UPTAKE What variables increase hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines? Research has also considered the flipside, by examining the factors that may lead to hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine. • Some people oppose the vaccine for ideological reasons because COVID-19 and the response to it have become politicized in some countries. When this occurs, opposition is generally greater on the political right and among populists 15,16. POLITICS OF COVID-19 VACCINATION • About a third of people who are not intending to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are committed vaccination opponents 16 and often believe in conspiracy theories. VACCINE DENIERS CONSPIRACY THEORIES • Some people understand the need for a COVID-19 vaccine but have safety concerns. FACTS ABOUT COVID-19 VACCINES COVID-19 VACCINE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS • People of color, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, homeless or low-income people, people with disabilities and other marginalized populations traditionally face obstacles and inequalities in healthcare and this situation has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They may also have collective histories of experience with medical malpractice that affect current trust.