How news orgs can combat vaccine hesitancy
Instead, the story looming on the horizon is about vaccine hesitancy and skepticism. How much of the population will actually get vaccinated when the opportunity presents itself to them? Has it been adequately conveyed how effective the vaccines are or has the press overemphasized the coronavirus variants? Do people understand how important it is to get their shot so the US can quickly move toward achieving herd immunity?
Coverage from media outlets will play a crucial role in shaping the public’s perception on such matters in the days and weeks ahead…
I reached out to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University and a CNN medical analyst, to get his thoughts on all of this. “The media is going to have to focus on vaccine hesitancy in communities of color and also hesitancy in the GOP,” Reiner told me over email. “I think the media should start talking about how being vaccinated changes someone’s outlook and daily life (my wife and I are in a restaurant this weekend for the 1st time in a year). The CDC will soon have guidance about this. Talking about what one can do after being vaccinated (going out to eat, seeing family, going to the gym, traveling) will incentivize more people to get vaccinated. We should be hearing stories from vaccinated people in communities of color. Let’s hear their stories. Why did they chose to get vaccinated? How did it change their lives?”
The role Fox can play
>> Suggestion for Fox: Show your hosts get vaccinated on live-TV! Why hasn’t this happened yet?
The comparisons between vaccines shouldn’t be the focus
I also reached out to Dr. Leana Wen, a visiting professor at GWU and a CNN medical analyst, to see if she had any advice for the press. She suggested that the focus should be on “how we have three safe and highly effective vaccines.” Wen added, “That’s the message — not comparing one vs another, but talking about how there are now three.”
Indeed, the current coverage about how the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have higher efficacies might lead some people to hold off getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But as Wen pointed out to me, if one were to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine now, that doesn’t prevent that person from later getting the Pfizer or Moderna shot. “That’s getting lost [in the messaging],” Wen pointed out, saying she hasn’t “heard it communicated enough.” Neither have I…
…neither should the possibility of spread among vaccinated
“While there’s a chance that an immunized person might be able to infect others, existing evidence suggests the risk is very small,” added Brody, who said she “would have registered as a Covid vaccine skeptic” last fall. “Far more important is unimpeachable data that the vaccines are lifesaving. They nearly eliminate the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from the virus…”
