COVID 19 Vaccinations

1) What is the name of the article? Where was it published? Who is the author and what are his or her credentials?

a. Name: Public health officials are failing to communicate effectively about AstraZeneca

b. Published: May 12, 2021

c. Author: Joel Abrams

d. Author Credentials: Manager of Outreach at The Conversation US

2) Post a link to the article or the actual article with your assignment

a. https://theconversation.com/public-health-officials-are-failing-to-communicate-effectively-about-astrazeneca-160340

3) How did you search for or find it (search words, reading, etc)?

I searched for the article using Google. I was particularly interested in vaccinations and their overall impact on society. This was compounded by the exception speed by which the vaccines were approved and administered to the public. Due to the speed and complexity of the virus I was interested in researching aspects that failed with the vaccine rollout and how it was being communicated to the public. I wanted to see how health officials would communicate vaccine failures against the backdrop of encouraging people to become vaccinated.

4) Why did you choose it?

The answer above explains why I chose the topic. To summarize I was very interested in vaccinations and the communication behind them. Given the speed of research, development, and distribution, I felt that mistakes or corners may have been cut somewhere in the supply chain (Ball, 2020). Here health officials had to juxtapose the speed by which the vaccine can be administered to the public while also ensuring its safety and security. Compounding this issue is the fact that, the virus was killing more individuals worldwide on a daily basis. Each day the vaccine was not distributed, thousands around the world would die (Abbasi, 2020).

5) Who is the lead public agency identified in the piece?

The primary agency mentioned in the piece is National Advisory Committee on Immunization

6) What other stakeholder agencies mentioned, identified, and/or involved?

The health ministry is the only other agency mentioned or identified within the piece.

7) What other stakeholder agencies still need to be involved?

Numerous other stakeholder agencies will need to be leverage in order to have a unified message regarding COVID-19 and subsequent vaccinations. Communication to the public is critical as it provides the citizens of Canada with confidence that leadership is working in a unified manner. As such the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Center for Occupation Health and Safety, and the Health Ministry should all be involved. In addition, agencies related to logistics, transportation and infrastructure should also be involved due to their ability to help facilitate distribution of vaccines (Alter, 2020).

8) What is the main public health issue or message and describe it?

The main public health issue described in the article is vaccinations and the misinformation surrounding their effectiveness. This is not unique to Canada, but also to the rest of the world. Due to the speed in which the vaccine was distributed, consumers had read a lot of misinformation propagated over social media and other distribution channels. This created a public health issues as consumers, due to the misinformation may be reluctant to take the vaccine.

9) What are the concerns with this issue or message and describe it?

As noted above, the primary concern is that consumers will not take the appropriate steps to combat the virus due to misinformation. This can include neglecting to get vaccinations, reluctance to adhere to social distancing guidelines and more.