Vaccine Hesitancy and COVID-19: Considerations for Communication

This presentation presents the issues we confront in deciding how to communicate to the public that COVID-19 vaccine recommendations reflect the state of scientific knowledge.

Within the COVID-19 context, vaccine hesitancy is driven by several issues in the mindset of some members of the public that the government is over-reaching and that the scientists don’t know enough to do their jobs. Much of this distrust comes from misinformation in the media.

The presentation also lists principles of risk communication:

• Be first
• Be right
• Promote action

Another two questions are posed:

• How should practitioners communicate to caregivers?
• How should we communicate for acceptance?

Last modified: January 6, 2021

Language: English