Scientific American
Clear messaging and transparency are vital, say some experts on risk assessment and decision-making
Advertisement
Unforeseen safety issues routinely emerge after any new medicine or vaccine goes from testing in tens of thousands of volunteers to actual public use on tens of millions. So it was no major surprise when an extremely small percentage of people developed a strange blood clotting problem after receiving either the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine or the AstraZeneca shot, which is widely used outside of the U.S.
Rare but dangerous side effects from vaccines can present a tricky dilemma for public health authorities. In this case, the life-threatening blood clots, accompanied by an oddly low count of clot-promoting platelets, appear to strike about two individuals per million people vaccinated with J&J’s shot and about one per 100,000 receiving AstraZeneca’s. Both are minuscule risks, compared with COVID-19 itself, which, by one estimate, k
(Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It s not enough to ban misleading content: YouTube is fighting COVID-19 misinformation with a new series of public service announcements (PSA) encouraging folks to learn about the vaccines.
In partnership with the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, YouTube is launching its PSA campaign first in the US, with plans to reach other countries in the weeks to come. At YouTube, we are committed to making sure that people have access to reliable information about the vaccine, including how it was developed and tested, what they can expect when they get the vaccine, and how every person plays a part in the public s health, Garth Graham, director and global head of healthcare and public health partnerships at YouTube, wrote in a blog post.
YouTube Launches PSAs to Boost Confidence in Covid-19 Vaccine
Gif: YouTube
YouTube launched a series of public service announcements on Monday encouraging people to get vaccinated for covid-19. The videos come as health experts in the U.S. worry there will soon be more covid-19 vaccine doses available to Americans than people who want to take them.
Advertisement
The YouTube video series, produced in conjunction with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Vaccine Confidence Project, launched on Monday in the U.S. and will be rolled out to other countries as covid-19 vaccines become more widely available worldwide.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Luis Alvaraez
YouTube is pairing health experts up with an array of celebrities to talk about COVID-19 vaccines as part of its new public service announcement. This new PSA is born out of a collaboration between YouTube, the Vaccine Confidence Project and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and it s focused on providing people with reliable information about COVID-19 immunizations.
Google s video platform will focus on giving users information about how the vaccine was developed and tested – and what users can expect post-vaccination. As part of the new initiative, the company will run videos on its own platform, paid TV, radio and social media through July.
Facebook groups peddling false information on the vaccines have attracted masses of followers, according to a BBC study published at the end of March, which studied Brazil, France, India, Kenya, Mexico, Tanzania and Ukraine. AFP
PARIS: Anti-vaccine campaigners once confined to relatively obscure groups have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to reach a wider audience online, feeding on public fears to sow doubt about the drugs now available.
But while the “anti-vax” camp has long understood the importance of the information battle, says science historian Laurent-Henri Vignaud, the health authorities are often a step behind.
The problem, says Vignaud, co-author of