Only a timeline supported by robust medical evidence, combined with transparency about what is happening during Phase 3 trials, can help the government win over the constituency it needs most: health-care providers. Doctors’ recommendations are among the most important factors in people’s decisions to get immunized — and our first obligation is to patients, not politicians. When people ask us whether they should get the covid-19 vaccine, we need to be confident about why we’re answering “yes.”
Even once there is a vaccine that we’re confident is safe and effective, our job convincing patients to get it won’t be easy. This is another area where government can help: messaging tactics. Public-health officials should help guide physicians and nurses on how to communicate effectively about the vaccine, prioritizing emotionally powerful stories about the suffering covid-19 can cause over a fire hose of statistics, which can actually backfire. Language, too, is important: Health workers should avoid “herd immunity,” which conjures up visions of cattle, and instead use “community immunity,” which conveys that we’re all facing this pandemic together.
Officials can also help by modeling good behavior. To engender trust in the vaccine, we need to see our political leaders and their family members rolling up their own sleeves to get it. It will be a disaster if leaders twist receiving — or refusing — the vaccine into a political statement, as was done with mask-wearing.
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