There was someone on the radio yesterday (doctor? epidemiologist? and was it On the Media?) trying to make the point that the public should lower their expectations of Public Health and recognize that they can’t know everything. We’re all in the midst of an enormous experiment, was the idea.…
There was someone on the radio yesterday (doctor? epidemiologist? and was it On the Media?) trying to make the point that the public should lower their expectations of Public Health and recognize that they can’t know everything. We’re all in the midst of an enormous experiment, was the idea. Except that the public does realize that. That feeling is what drives vaccine hesitancy, and instead of understanding that/expecting it/working with it, public health experts and doctors lectured us, saying we didn’t understand science, and calling us anti-vaxxers (my family is vaccinated, fwiw).
I have been interested in Public Health’s position here at the intersection of science and public relations (propaganda?). They manipulate the public but for the public good. How do they make decisions around that? What do they decide to admit and leave out?
"That feeling is what drives vaccine hesitancy, and instead of understanding that/expecting it/working with it, public health experts and doctors lectured us, saying we didn’t understand science, and calling us anti-vaxxers (my family is vaccinated, fwiw)."
Yeah exactly, I think you're spot on here. I think a key and massively under-recognised driver of vaccine hesitancy has been the awful and inconsistent messaging of governments and the criminally sensationalist reporting in the media. The lack of transparency and consistency has made so many people understandably distrustful, and as you say, the "solution" to that has been to lecture instead of to explain.
The conversation around vaccines interests me.
There was someone on the radio yesterday (doctor? epidemiologist? and was it On the Media?) trying to make the point that the public should lower their expectations of Public Health and recognize that they can’t know everything. We’re all in the midst of an enormous experiment, was the idea. Except that the public does realize that. That feeling is what drives vaccine hesitancy, and instead of understanding that/expecting it/working with it, public health experts and doctors lectured us, saying we didn’t understand science, and calling us anti-vaxxers (my family is vaccinated, fwiw).
I have been interested in Public Health’s position here at the intersection of science and public relations (propaganda?). They manipulate the public but for the public good. How do they make decisions around that? What do they decide to admit and leave out?
"That feeling is what drives vaccine hesitancy, and instead of understanding that/expecting it/working with it, public health experts and doctors lectured us, saying we didn’t understand science, and calling us anti-vaxxers (my family is vaccinated, fwiw)."
Yeah exactly, I think you're spot on here. I think a key and massively under-recognised driver of vaccine hesitancy has been the awful and inconsistent messaging of governments and the criminally sensationalist reporting in the media. The lack of transparency and consistency has made so many people understandably distrustful, and as you say, the "solution" to that has been to lecture instead of to explain.