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Do we trust in vaccines of
covid 19
Professor Tareq alasadi
Vaccine experts around the world are
justifiably concerned by the lack of scientific
data on the“Sputnik V” vaccine for Covid-
19that Russia recently approved after less
than two months of human testing on a non-
randomized group of 39 patients. But they are
also worried about the potentially chilling
effect its possible failure could have on public
acceptance of whichever of the dozens of
other Covid-19 vaccines in the pipeline
eventually proves safe and effective. Business
leaders should be concerned as well and must
begin to play a central role now in building
public confidence in vaccines.
Even safe and effective vaccines only work to
protect the population if enough people are
immunized. Unfortunately, there is already
ample public opinion data to suggest that,
egged on by anti-vaccine activists, large
numbers of people won’t accept
immunization.A third of Americanscurrently
say they have no interest in taking a Covid-19
vaccine if one were available, even at little or
no cost.Similar sentiments have been
expressed in the UK, France, and other
countries.
We cannot establish the level of “herd
immunity” needed to contain the Covid-19
pandemic unless enough people accept a
vaccine.Leadershave advocated that
advancinghealth literacy— the degree to
which people have the capacity to obtain,
process, and understand basic health
information and services to make appropriate
health decisions— is crucial to building and
maintaining public confidence in vaccines.
Recognizing the importance of this effort,
some large employers—
includingMastercard,Appleand Google —
are communicating with their employees
thatthe full reopening of their workplaces
depends on the success of a vaccine for
Covid-19. We urge other businesses to join
such efforts to dispel fear, mistrust,
misinformation, and disinformation about
Covid-19 vaccines.
Evidencefrom the U.S. Centers for Disease
and Control and Prevention’sEpidemic
Intelligence Serviceclearly shows that a
pandemic is as much a communications
emergency as it is a medical crisis. TheWorld
Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Increasing
Vaccination Modelacknowledges that
people’s thoughts and feelings about
vaccines— including their perceived risk,
worry, confidence, trust, and safety
concerns— can reduce their motivation to
get vaccinated, compounding the practical
issues and challenges to expanding access to
and uptake of the services that provide them.
In 2019, the WHO citedvaccine hesitancy—
indecision about accepting a vaccination—
as one of the top 10 threats to global health .
TheVaccine Confidence Projectcontinues to
detect factors underlyingvaccine hesitancy,
and overcoming such hesitancy requires
tailoring solutions to the roots of mistrust.
Vaccine literacy for Covid-19 vaccines will
require more extensive efforts than many
other health literacy campaigns because of
the complex situation that is likely to occur.
Early clinical trials in the West and Far East
indicate that first-generation Covid-19
vaccines are likely to have mid-range
efficacy. (On June 30, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administrationsharedthat it would approve a
Covid-19 vaccine that can prevent or reduce
severe disease in at least 50% of the people
who get it.) It’s also likely that there will be
multiple vaccines used around the world,
including some that require multiple doses
and some that may be better suited for
different populations.
Consequently, even before a vaccine is
approved, national and state leaders must
engage a network of champions to locally
communicate effectively with the public about
risks, benefits, allocation and targeting, and
availability. This is where the business
community can play an important role.
The world’s biggest employers should
immediately support— with their money and
brands —common-sense information
campaigns that promote vaccine acceptance
and defuse anti-vaccine sentiments. In order
to ensure widespread public acceptance as
soon as vaccines have cleared all the
appropriate scientific hurdles, those
campaigns must be launched now. In
addition, the business community should
advise, partner, and invest in the
development and deployment of technologies
to measure and verifyvaccine coverage: the
estimated percentage of people around the
world who have received specificvaccines.
Individual companies don’t have to act alone.
They can join forces by working with
international business coalitions such as the
recently launchedCONVINCEinitiative, which
will work with governments and NGOs to
develop, implement, and evaluate global,
country, and audience-specific campaigns to
advance vaccine literacy. (Three of us—
Scott, Rebecca, and Ken— are involved in
CONVINCE.)
Creating safe and effective vaccines and
making them widely available in 2021 are
only half the battle. The other half is getting
the vast majority of people around the world
to accept them. That will not happen unless
businesses around the world begin now to
support efforts at the global, national, and
local levels to persuade people they should
get vaccinated.
If our content helps you to contend with
coronavirus and other challenges, please
considersubscribing to HBR.A subscription
purchase is the best way to support the
creation of these resources.
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References:An mRNA Vaccine against
SARS-CoV-2 - Preliminary Report.Jackson LA,
Anderson EJ, Rouphael NG, Roberts PC,
Makhene M, Coler RN, McCullough MP,
Chappell JD, Denison MR, Stevens LJ,
Pruijssers AJ, McDermott A, Flach B, Doria-
Rose NA, Corbett KS, Morabito KM, O'Dell S,
Schmidt SD, Swanson PA 2nd, Padilla M,
Mascola JR, Neuzil KM, Bennett H, Sun W,
Peters E, Makowski M, Albert J, Cross K,
Buchanan W, Pikaart-Tautges R, Ledgerwood
JE, Graham BS, Beigel JH; mRNA-1273 Study
Group.N Engl J Med.2020 Jul 14. doi:
10.1056/NEJMoa2022483. Online ahead of
print. PMID:32663912.
Funding:NIH’s National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
(NCATS); Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research
Fund; Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovation (CEPI).
UP