Thread by @ViralCarmichael

How to talk about COVID vaccines, a thread:

After perusing social media and talking with my non-scientist friends, the biggest concern I keep hearing about COVID vaccines is that the speed at which they’re being developed makes people question the vaccines’ safety. 1/

There will ALWAYS be people who are anti-vaxx, no matter what. No amount of evidence, personal conversation, empathy etc. will change their minds. I can usually spot these people quite fast and have learned not to engage further. It’s futile and draining. 2/

But there are a lot more people who are ‘vaccine hesitant.’ This definitely applies to how people view COVID vaccines. Even friends of mine I’d consider science literate are wary of how fast the vaccine process is moving. 3/

This thread isn’t about whether vaccines are safe or not (Yes, I understand how and why the development of COVID vaccines is so fast right now). If you want to learn more about COVID vaccines, just go read @florian_krammer Twitter feed. He has GREAT tweetorials on this. 4/

Back to my point: People are scared of COVID and also are scared of getting a vaccine that’s been developed “too fast.” As scientists, it’s easy to get frustrated and dismiss vaccine-hesitant people as inherently anti-science. This is the wrong choice, however. 5/

Most of my COVID vaccine hesitant friends aren’t anti-vaxx. They just don’t feel comfortable getting the vaccine right when it’s released. They’d rather wait 3-6 months and see how it goes first. I keep hearing this sentiment over and over again. 6/

While I was initially dismayed at this, I realized that scientists can use this vaccine-hesitancy to our advantage to further public health messaging. Let’s not waste an opportunity to educate. Stay with me. 7/

Say COVID vaccines are FDA approved early next year (🤞🏼). We already know there won’t be enough vaccines for all Americans right away. There will be at-risk people groups who have priority for receiving the vaccines first (as there should be, IMO). 8/

Over time, more people will be able to choose to get a COVID vaccine. A lot of us will be very excited to do so. But what about our vaccine-hesitant friends?

We—as scientists & health professionals—MUST follow up with them 3-6 months after the vaccines become available. 9/

There will be MUCH more safety and efficacy data at that point. Vaccine-hesitant people are not lost forever, but we NEED to follow up with them and say “hey, it’s been 3 months. Look at this new evidence showing how safe and effective this vaccine is.” 10/

While I dream of a world where all people trust the scientific process and want a safe vaccine ASAP, that’s not the reality we live in. So let this be our reminder to keep educating and communicating with our friends & family about COVID vaccines as they are rolled out. 11/

TL;DR

Vaccine-hesitant is not the same thing as anti-vaxx. Let’s use the long-ish rollout of future COVID vaccines as an opportunity to bolster public health messaging about vaccine safety. 12/12

#VaccinesWork y’all 😉