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1/ The prospects for an effective vaccine look quite promising. But the world's best vaccine is no good if people don't take it. So how can we make that happen?
1/ The prospects for an effective vaccine look quite promising. But the world's best vaccine is no good if people don't take it. So how can we make that happen?
2/ The latest You are Not So Smart podcast, from @davidmcraney , offers lots of fascinating ideas on this topic, to which I'll add one or two of my own. https://youarenotsosmart.com/
3/ Turn vaccination into the ice-bucket challenge. Get @TheRock and @serenawilliams and Clint Eastwood etc. etc. to show their vaccination on Instagram and challenge their celeb friends to do likewise.
4/ As @R_Thaler would say: make it easy. Get tents up in the local park, car park of the shopping mall, etc. etc. Let people stroll up and get a free vaccine shot. https://amzn.to/3ie6M12
5/ As Paul Offit emphasises: be transparent. Tell people what we know and what we don't know. Include often-ignored groups. Disaggregate sex data (paging @CCriadoPerez ). Explain effectiveness and known side effects for different ages, ethnicities, etc. https://amzn.to/3ihTH6V
6/ Awaken people's curiosity (The Golden Rule here: https://amzn.to/3kXDNQY ). Let's here about where these vaccines came from, how they were made, the history of variolation, etc. It's the most remarkable story of ingenuity.
(Podcast here: https://timharford.com/2020/07/cautionary-tales-dark-winter-bright-spring/)
(Podcast here: https://timharford.com/2020/07/cautionary-tales-dark-winter-bright-spring/)
7/ And a few thoughts about what NOT to do.
Don't just say "trust us" because nobody does anymore.
Try to keep the politicians out of it. Trump, Johnson, Biden, etc - having them involved is a great way to scare off half the population. Vaccines can be politically polarised...
Don't just say "trust us" because nobody does anymore.
Try to keep the politicians out of it. Trump, Johnson, Biden, etc - having them involved is a great way to scare off half the population. Vaccines can be politically polarised...
8/ And the toughest one: don't rush. This is really hard, because the benefits of a quick vaccine are vast - well worth taking certain kinds of economic and health risk. But if a rushed vaccine turns out to be ineffective and/or dangerous? That's a catastrophe.
9/ BTW here's a quick thread (there are other good ones) about vaccine progress: https://twitter.com/rifish/status/1310879996051951616
