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Beyond Politics — Promoting Covid-19 Vaccination in the United States – nejm.org

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4 years ago

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Segment public according to identity barriers Qualitative research or text mining of social media to determine why patients feel vaccination runs counter to their identity. Create targeted messaging based on relevant barriers, such as a “Go out with a bang, but don’t die this death” campaign for groups with a Covid-defiant identity. Find a common enemy Message testing to determine what common enemies resonate across two polarized groups. Look for an enemy that prompts more animosity than the opposite group does.

  • If a common enemy is poverty or recession: “This economy needs a shot in the arm. We can do that.”

  • If a common enemy is those who don’t believe in America: “Think we can’t vaccinate 300 million people in 3 months? Watch us.”

Use analogy Develop a list of appropriate analogies for critical facts, processes, or statistics and share them through health care channels. Encourage trusted medical providers to prepare their own analogies for common vaccine questions. Use analogies to augment more complicated discussions of fact.

  • Use process analogies (e.g., if asked how the vaccine works, say “mRNA is like a teacher that shows the body how to make the antibodies that fight off Covid.”)

  • Use statistical analogies (e.g., “You’d be more likely to get hit by lightning than to die from Covid after getting vaccinated.”)

Increase observability Make it easy to see, in person or online, who has been vaccinated.

  • Offer a wearable token — a bracelet, sticker, or pin — that can be observed by others.

  • Offer social media frames and banners (e.g., “I’m a First Responder and I’m Vaccinated”).

  • Partner with celebrities, respected local leaders, and members of all parties to show them, on old and new media, being vaccinated.

Leverage natural scarcity Use a national or state referendum to decide who gains access to the vaccine first, or request community input through surveys. Frame the chosen “first receivers” — whether the elderly, first responders, teachers, or essential workers — as nationally valued and honored. Predict and address negative attributions Monitor media to quickly identify negative attributions. For segment-specific attributions, partner with community leaders or influencers to identify and counter negative attributions.

  • If delays in vaccine accessibility are being attributed to government incompetence, use daily briefings to show a complicated “air traffic control map” tracking freezer trucks.

  • If prioritized deployment of vaccines in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods is being attributed to a belief that these populations are expendable “lab rats,” include these communities’ trusted local leaders in prioritization discussions.

Prompt anticipated regret Develop and use communications to remind people of a low-probability but high-stakes outcomes and the resulting strong emotions.

  • Train family practice staff to use questions and statements such as:

  • “What would change in your family if you became a Covid long-hauler and had permanent lung or heart damage?”

  • “I’ve seen the crushing guilt of families that lose someone to Covid after not being quite careful enough — don’t do that to yourself.”

Avoid conveying piecemeal risk information Coordinate press releases with stakeholders to avoid letting bad news trickle out and making it seem worse than it is. If a delay seems likely, wait until you have a clear sense of the new situation and present any bad news up front and, ideally, just once. Promote compromise options Find ways to promote a sense of control by offering multiple vaccination choices; introduce other actions to frame vaccination as a middle or normal choice. Train cold-call promoters or survey takers to ask people if they will get the vaccine later, get it now, or get it now and sign up to donate plasma. Create FOMO motivations Frame vaccination as a desirable opportunity not to be missed. Find and provide rewards for vaccine completion.

  • Partner with employers to give employees a day off to be vaccinated.

  • Create a campaign to promote the idea that families should stagger vaccinations so that each “hero” gets a day in bed with snacks and binge-watching movies.

  • Use monetary incentives (tax deductions or insurance refunds).

  • Encourage celebrities to hold future free events for vaccinated fans.

Combat uniqueness neglect Work with health care providers to identify patient groups that might feel they have special conditions unlike “ordinary” people.

  • Train medical personal to identify uniqueness neglect (e.g., patients might say, “The vaccine is fine, but it won’t work for me.”)

  • Offer safe (even if largely unnecessary) modifications to standard vaccine delivery (e.g., topical analgesics before injection; getting the shot late in the day).

Neutralize the case versus base-rate heuristic Communicate with clinicians and other front-line health personnel about the base-rate fallacy. Build and use collection of positive anecdotes.

  • Encourage clinicians to counter patients’ anecdotal “bad reaction” stories with “good reaction” stories rather than statistics.

  • Ensure that DHHS briefings and websites include a continuous collection of real people’s stories about good vaccination experiences.

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RFK Jr. says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water. ‘It’s possible,’ Trump says

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19 hours ago

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November 4, 2024

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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.

Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”

The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”

Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”

The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.

“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.

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Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

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19 hours ago

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November 4, 2024

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Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

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America’s Election: What it Means to Canadians

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3 days ago

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November 2, 2024

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Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.

Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.

Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.

Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.

Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.

Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.

Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.

China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca

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