When I got my first Moderna shot in March, I was hugely hopeful about vaccination in deep-red Illinois. At that time, the local hospital was vaccinating up to 800 people a day. Now I see the percentage of the population that’s been vaccinated rising at an alarmingly slow pace: 25.92%, 25.97%. My hopes for widespread vaccine acceptance here were ill-founded.
I called the local health department this morning to suggest adding information on vaccination to the daily Facebook post that gives the number of new cases. Before today, those posts suggested just three ways to avoid COVID: hand-washing, masks, and distance. I suggested adding vaccination, with contact info. Yes, good idea, and that info appeared in the new post this afternoon.
What I didn’t know before this morning is that vaccine supply in our area far exceeds demand. It appears that people who want a vaccine have, for the most part, already been vaccinated. As for everyone else — ? You can imagine what it must feel like to be working in the cause of public health when so many people are unwilling to do what’s needed to get us out of this mess.
Also this morning: Elaine heard from a family that will not be participating in an annual summer orchestra for all ages. The members of the family do not feel “comfortable” wearing masks.
This is where we live.
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The recent This American Life episode “The Herd” is relevant here. It includes a profile of a public-health official and an account of Republican pollster Frank Luntz’s effort to figure out what might persuade Trump** voters to get vaccinated.
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Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Vaccine, anyone?
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I daydream about getting a T-shirt that says "Social Media Kills" because stupid beliefs, including being an anti-vaxxer, all seem to come from social media.
The BBC News website had a video on how in Finland there is a public education campaign to warn about the Russians having troll factories to put out disinformation in the west.
I hope the someone is turning the successful persuasive effort Frank Luntz describes on This American Life into the stuff of PSAs. And yet Luntz is already being reviled by Tucker Carlson and others.
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