Bringing Up Parents the Vaccine Way
Vaccines are coming.
Hooray! Who's first? I was in line to get the vaccine when he came.
Why aren't we jumping up for joy instead of tiptoeing around the fears of the anti-vaccination people? I don't know about you, but as soon as the vaccines come out, I'm getting in line.
There is plenty of press coverage on how many people are against vaccines. The latest Gallup poll reports 42% of U.S. adults say they would not get a vaccine, compared to 50% in September. Every month, the press reports on the latest Gallup poll with increasing or decreasing numbers of people against it with lots of press on health officials "worried" about resistance.
Wait a minute. Where is the press coverage for people who can't wait for the vaccine? We need to get busy changing the message. We need to start writing dozens of reports on the positives of the vaccine.
Now is the time. With Covid, we did a poor job communicating and leading with a consistent message about the transmission and protection against the virus, especially in its early stages. If we didn't have Dr. Fauci or Andrew Cuomo, we really would have been lost. Much of the press relied on press releases from pharmaceuticals for the its coverage. County and state officials scrambled to get a cohesive message out in the absence of federal leadership but the communication strategy was muddled.
Now we have a chance to get it right with the vaccine.
No more muddled messages.
No more babble in Babylon.
No more fractured media outlets, fractured messages, and fractured acceptance of the vaccine.
Many people who are against the vaccine are overloaded with data and facts when in reality, the reason they are against the vaccine is fear. Or they want to feel it's a parents' choice, and not a mandate made by the government.
Don't keep throwing data at the people against a vaccine to convince them. If we repeat that the vaccines are 94.5 effective or 90% effective, or showing the temperatures that the vaccines need to be stored and showing another graph, this causes fatigue. Start making the vaccine attractive, emphasizing the benefits that a vaccine will bring. It will allow the restrictions to go away and no one likes the government restricting their dress, their mobility, and their social lives. It will allow the economy to reopen again.
To give you an example of what more data does to people against a vaccine, take a look at a 2014 study. When officials promoted the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, parents didn't change their minds when they heard more facts about the vaccine. In fact, it worked the opposite. It made them more confused and ultimately, led them to not vaccinating their child.
Here are six ways to make the vaccine message more effective:
1. Have a clear, concise and consistent message. Scientists, government, and health officials must have one message to pass on to media experts. One. This pandemic affects everyone. Yes, the vaccine will be phased in to the most vulnerable and at-risk populations at first, but we should emphasize the universality of getting the vaccine. The vaccine benefits everyone.
Humor helps make it more convincing because it is relatable. For example, to promote train safety in Melbourne, Australia, they had an animated video about the "Dumb Ways to Die," by Metro Train that shows animated characters doing “dumb” things like lighting themselves on fire and poking a grizzly bear with a stick.
2. Make Covid the common enemy with the message that we all have to fight this together.
3. Make it free—the pandemic applies to everyone, getting vaccinated at no cost should be for everyone.
4. Have kid promote the message. Get kids to ask for the vaccine, it's called "pester power." Take a kid's point of view and incorporate it into the marketing narrative.
5. Build trust by letting the parents be the hero. Parents want a voice in their child's vaccination. They choose wisely for themselves, and for their children with messages that hit the value of taking care of your health and your family's health and how you love them and want the best for them. Parents can be the heroes by making a positive choice to get their child vaccinated, they become the health heroes of their family. Save a life. Get vaccinated. Save your life. Save your child's life. Try this message - I got my kid vaccinated, did you?
We must move beyond fear. The quick pace of developing the vaccine in a year has nothing to do with cutting corners on safety. Operation Warp Speed is not a miracle but close to one. It is what happens when the whole world collaborates on one project. It takes a global village to have a vaccine in a year.
A vaccine will allow us to visit and hug our loved ones. We will be able to return to school, to work, and to our friends.
I can't wait.