The frightening campaign to keep us unvaccinated

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in the United States. But despite the fact that these vaccines are “safe and uncommonly effective,” a lot of Americans say they don’t want one, said BIO’s Phyllis Arthur on the latest episode of the I AM BIO Podcast. What should we do? 

We need 75-85% of Americans to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity against COVID-19, said Phyllis Arthur, BIO’s VP of Infectious Diseases Policy—but too many Americans remain hesitant.

This is due, in large part, to the spread of misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, peer-reviewed science, and institutions. “Never in the history of medicine has there been such a concerted effort to scare the bejeezus out of the American people,” she said.

This is different than, say, the 2016 election, when state actors used bots to “take advantage of what was already happening,” said Dr. Joe Smyser, CEO of the Public Good Projects, which tracks vaccine misinformation and disinformation in traditional and social media. 

These are “organic messages” coming from “real people, real organizations—many of whom are based in the U.S.” and who really believe what they are saying, he explained.

What can we do about it? The Public Good Projects launched Stronger, a campaign to track vaccine misinformation and disinformation and, importantly, train people to take action against it. (Full disclosure: BIO is a financial supporter of the campaign.)

We also need to start “talking to people and listening, honestly listening,” and bring other stakeholders and messengers to the table to create messages that will resonate with the public, especially with the communities impacted the most (such as communities of color). 

This needs to happen ASAP. “We've never vaccinated this many people before and we've never vaccinated this many people on a timeline that we're asking our ourselves to do,” concluded Dr. Smyser. “The scale of the mobilization that we need and every facet of what we've talked about today is larger than anything we've ever done before.”

What can you personally do? “If you spend a fair amount of time online, we need you to help fight back and patrol your platform in the name of science,” said Phyllis Arthur. “Our breakthrough science is only as good as the public’s trust in it.” 

Listen at www.bio.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcast fix, including Apple, Google, or Spotify. 

Want to spread vaccine facts? Visit www.COVIDVaccineFacts.org.

More Health Care News:

STAT News: Adults over 75, frontline essential workers should be in second COVID-19 vaccine priority group, says CDC advisory panel
“The committee defined frontline essential workers as first responders, teachers and other education workers including day care workers, food and agriculture workers, correctional facility staff, postal workers, public transit workers, and people who work in manufacturing and in grocery stores.” 

The New York Times: E.U. to embark on a high-stakes coronavirus vaccine rollout
“The bloc’s drug authority, the European Medicines Agency, is expected to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, setting off a logistical marathon the likes of which most of the authorities in the region have not had to contend with before.”

Stephanie Batchelor, VP of BIO’s Industrial and Environment Section, recently joined Wiley Rein LLP’s podcast for a quick introduction to the bioeconomy.

What is the bioeconomy? It’s a “collection of companies and researchers and industries that are using science and biotechnology to improve public health, to enhance supply chains, and to bring sustainable products to consumers,” she said. 

“In short, it’s an economy driven by biotech innovation”—creating products ranging from sustainable fuels and biobased manufacturing, to alternative proteins and crops genetically engineered to be more resilient and biofriendly, to COVID-19 vaccines and cures for diseases. 

And COVID-19 has shined a bright light on the fortitude and potential of biotech—from companies like POET and Amyris pivoting to produce biobased hand sanitizer, to others using synthetic biology to manufacture DNA to use in test kits and vaccine development. 

But there are many barriers to getting these products to consumers—specifically, the lack of funding for R&D, and burdensome regulation and the need for more guidance on how new technologies will be treated by regulators.

We also need to work on consumer perception—getting consumers “to better understand the benefits of biobased products and the increase in jobs that will be brought throughout the country,” she continued.

What does success look like? “The success of the bioeconomy has to be measured by our ability to not only establish resilience but our ability to improve equity for all,” Stephanie concluded. This includes improving access to nutritious food, cleaning up the air, and bringing jobs to every corner of the country—all of which is “contingent on the diversity of researchers, producers, and scientists who are working on the breakthroughs of tomorrow.”   

Listen to the whole thing.

President Trump’s Monday: No public events scheduled. 

President-elect Biden’s Monday: He and his wife Dr. Jill Biden will receive their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine live on television.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: After working through the weekend, Congress reached a deal on the $1.4 trillion budget and $900 billion coronavirus stimulus, reports POLITICO. The AP has more on what’s in the relief bill.