{"id":663,"date":"2021-03-25T12:19:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesspartners2convince.org\/?p=663"},"modified":"2021-03-25T12:19:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:19:03","slug":"nfid-scott-ratzan-blog-on-effective-communications-the-secret-sauce-for-covid-19-vaccination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesspartners2convince.org\/nfid-scott-ratzan-blog-on-effective-communications-the-secret-sauce-for-covid-19-vaccination\/","title":{"rendered":"NFID: Scott Ratzan Blog on Effective Communications – The \u201cSecret Sauce\u201d for COVID-19 Vaccination"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post was created and posted by NFID on March 25, 2021.<\/em> Business Partners to CONVINCE executive director<\/em> Scott C. Ratzan, MD, MPA, MA wrote this guest blog post on effective communications to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Ratzan participated in the January 2021 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) expert roundtable which was the basis for a new NFID report, COVID-19 Communications: Promoting Prevention Measures and Vaccine Confidence<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives; distinguished lecturer at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy; and\u00a0<\/em>co-founder of\u00a0CONVINCE<\/a>\u00a0(COVID-19 New Vaccine INformation Communication and Engagement). NFID is proud to serve on the CONVINCE steering team.<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0pandemic has confronted health communicators with unprecedented challenges. The World Health Organization recognizes that we face not one pandemic but two\u2014the coronavirus itself and a parallel \u201cinfodemic\u201d that has allowed excessive amounts of conflicting information to interfere with our ability to control COVID-19.<\/p>\n

This \u201cinfodemic\u201d is real. In just a year\u2019s time, nearly 30 million people in the US have been infected and more than 540,000 have died from COVID-19. Yet today, even as more than 2 million people per day are willingly rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated against COVID-19, around a quarter of the public continues to tell pollsters they are hesitant to accept vaccination\u2014even if the vaccine is free and even though it has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration. Similar hesitancy persists globally, to a greater or lesser degree, impacting our ability to protect the global community against what should be a vaccine-preventable disease.<\/p>\n

Overcoming vaccine hesitancy will not be easy. Reluctance to accept safe and effective vaccines is the latest manifestation of the \u201cinfodemic\u201d that has surrounded COVID-19 from the start, when the common questions that generated so many conflicting answers were: Why should I wear a mask? Does it matter whether the mask is cloth, paper, or an N95? What is a safe social distance? How often do I need to wash my hands or use hand sanitizer? Does hydroxychloroquine cure COVID-19? What about bleach?<\/p>\n

Now the questions have changed: Does the vaccine work? Is it safe? Which one should I get? Are there enough doses for everyone? Do I need one or two shots? Are there any side effects? Can I mix and match brands? How do I know when it is my turn? Should I take the first vaccine that becomes available, or wait for the next one? Is it safe for pregnant women? And the list goes on.<\/p>\n

These questions must be addressed with patience and skill. We believe health communicators can do this more successfully if we seize upon the COVID-19 pandemic as an unprecedented opportunity to build global \u201cvaccine literacy.\u201d We achieve \u201cvaccine literacy\u201d when people possess the skills and abilities to understand the content, processes, and systems they need to access and receive a vaccine. This requires knowing how and why vaccines work, the diseases they prevent, and their value to the individual and to society.<\/p>\n

To achieve widespread \u201cvaccine literacy,\u201d health communicators must apply basic educational principles to promote trustworthy, straightforward communication. In January 2021, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) convened a multidisciplinary roundtable with experts from more than 50 partner organizations to help advance the data, evidence, and strategic thinking to address these challenges. Based on the roundtable discussions, NFID developed a report, COVID-19 Communications: Promoting Prevention Measures and Vaccine Confidence<\/strong><\/a>, to provide a framework for developing effective communications.<\/p>\n

As many communication campaigns have recently been launched\u2014from a national effort by the Ad Council to numerous regional, local, and audience-specific efforts\u2014we need to consider how these campaigns can best reinforce each other and not inadvertently add to the \u201cinfodemic\u201d of mis- and dis-information still being promulgated by vaccine opponents and COVID-19 deniers.<\/p>\n

To that end, the CONVINCE Initiative has developed a\u00a0specific checklist<\/a>\u00a0for effective vaccine communication campaigns. The concept of a checklist is based on the seminal work of Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, in his 2010 work, \u201cThe Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.\u201d The checklist is available to any organization seeking to address vaccine hesitancy in any health communication setting.<\/p>\n

Checklist for Effective Communication Strategies for COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns<\/h3>\n