Here is how you can make a difference today in the frenzy around the J&J pause announcement:

Immediately retire the term "vaccine hesitancy."

It's become a catch-all that misrepresents, blames people over systems, and doesn't help anything.

A brief thread

Let's start here: Millions of Americans are eager to get vaccinated every day. Among those who are not yet ready, most are considering their choices & have important questions about COVID vaccines. We want to answer those Qs every day, in all languages spoken, on all platforms /1

"Vaccine hesitancy" means it's all about people's behavior. That's convenient. Consider this: In a recent HIT/Rockefeller Foundation poll, 73% of people of color said they wanted to get vaccinated. 63% didn't know how to get the vaccine. What's this about, behavior, or access? /2

In the same poll, one in five Black and Latino adults reported that they have had trouble getting care when they needed it. What's this about, patients not trusting the system enough, or systems not being trustworthy? /3 https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/covid-19-vaccine-access-and-confidence-survey/

The words to start using are: Vaccine confidence. Intent to get vaccinated. But most importantly, we need to stop saying any of these words when it's not actually about behavior but about the 2 most important drivers of why people don't get vaccinated: Access & Misinformation /4

That's right. The "H" word is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, thanks to its frequent use and apt amplification by disinformation agents. We need to flip this model on its head, and call out disinformation agents as clearly as we are calling out individual people's choices /5

We spent decades blaming smokers when the science was clear about the addictive features of nicotine. The science on disinformation is equally clear, thanks to leadership from @BostonJoan @cward1e and others: misinformation, and the platforms that empower it, causes harm. /6

It's easier to blame people than acknowledge that there are things we can do about lack of access to healthcare, about structural racism in how our systems are set up, and about the misinformation that makes life more harmful for millions of Americans every day. /7

Today, we see all of his play out: Experts & vaccination sites are rotating to respond to the news about the J&J pause, people's legitimate questions are met with excellently crafted misinformation campaigns and rushed assurances from experts, and the H word is front & center /8

What we need is an information culture in which the FDA can make this very reasonable decision, it, yes, creates a bit of a commotion because we're in a pandemic, and immediately we can learn more about the reasons, the process and how remarkably safe our Covid vaccines are. /9

One thing we can do to get closer to this culture is retiring the H word today. And then get back to work answering people's legitimate questions, and increasing access & trustworthiness. Bec for most Americans, the question is not IF they will get vaccinated but WHEN. /End