WVU in the News: How a vaccine side-effect database sowed doubt in vaccinations
One of the greatest — though least discussed — challenges of the pandemic has been effective public health communication. Give people too little information, and risk anti-vaccine forces swooping in to fill the information void with falsehoods. On the other hand, too much information without the necessary context can create confusion, too.
Transparent communication is especially key to gaining the trust of those skeptical or hesitant of vaccines. And trust — far more than facts — is critical to changing people’s minds.
“We could do a lot better in transparency when it comes to vaccines,” says Christopher Martin, a professor at West Virginia University School of Public Health. “That is something we struggle with.”
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