The government’s new $11 million winter COVID and flu vaccine ad campaign gets some things right, but it doesn’t connect on an emotional level or address concerns about common side effects.
Talking about vaccines with trusted health care providers and with family can help wade through the sea of information – and misinformation.
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Jaime Sidani, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences; Beth Hoffman, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences, and Maya Ragavan, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences
With COVID-19 shots finally available for infants and preschoolers, knowing how to combat misinformation on social media and elsewhere could be more important than ever.
COVID vaccinations are available for children aged five and up.
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Understanding the depth of vaccine hesitancy, and the drivers behind the lack of take-up is critical to preventing further deaths, infections, and continuing harm to the economy.
The Washington National Cathedral hosted a public vaccination event in March 2021 to help demonstrate trust by faith leaders of all denominations in the COVID-19 vaccines.
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The extraordinary Dunedin longitudinal study shows vaccine resistance can be laid down before high school age in response to childhood trauma or neglect. But better early education could help.
While the vast majority of primary care providers have higher confidence in vaccines than the general public, some do not.
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Many COVID-19 vaccination campaigns encourage doctors to serve as a trusted source of vaccine information. But certain vaccine-hesitant providers may stymie these efforts.
Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines affecting fertility have no realistic basis.
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Some of the most persistent myths about COVID-19 vaccination have been false rumours that it can affect fertility in men or women. There has never been any evidence to support this misinformation.
If what you’re reading seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Reason is not the only factor that guides vaccine decisions. Understanding human decision-making is the first step in changing behaviour.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Vaccine hesitancy is often met with one of two responses: Ridicule, or factual information. Both assume a failure of reason, but human behaviour is more complex than reason, so both responses fail.
There are large inequalities between those who have been vaccinated and those who have not.
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Income plays a large role in shaping the structural barriers people face in accessing vaccination.
Some strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV) have been associated with cancers, especially cervical cancer.
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Some cancers are actually caused by viruses that linger for long periods in the body, or cause physical damage that later turns cancerous.
Health-care workers watch from a window as demonstrators gather outside Toronto General Hospital in September 2021 to protest against COVID-19 vaccines, mandates and restrictions.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The antagonism driven by political interference in COVID-19 vaccination is fuelling hesitancy. Mass vaccination campaigns require public buy-in via trusted health-care providers and community leaders.
Low faith in public figures and institutions may explain why uptake is lower in ethnic minority groups.
Researchers sought to understand how thinking about COVID-19 vaccine availability along different timelines might influence a person’s vaccine decisions.
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Vaccine hesitancy may be a waiting game. Even those who said they would never get the COVID-19 vaccine if it were available immediately became more likely to do so when it was available in the future.
Empathy is needed to understand and combat science skepticism.
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Instead of assuming that science skeptics are motivated by ignorance, or selfishness, we should listen to them and try to understand and address their actual concerns.
We interact with nanoparticles in multiple ways every day. The nanoparticles in this illustration are delivering drugs to cells.
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Some vaccine hesitancy is based on a fear of the nanoparticles used in mRNA vaccines. But humans have been interacting with nanoparticles for millennia, and we use nanotechnology-based devices every day.
With the holiday season approaching, people wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Montréal as the pandemic continues in Canada and around the world.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Paediatrician at the Royal Childrens Hospital and Associate Professor and Clinician Scientist, University of Melbourne and MCRI, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Senior Scientist, Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Honorary researcher, Division of Social & Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health, UCT, South African Medical Research Council
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford