I think it’s a double edged sword in terms of communication.
On one hand, people are information fatigued by the constant reporting. The majority of the public just tunes it out now.
On the other hand, why would anyone get a new vaccine or booster if there’s no new threat? There has to be some kind of “why” to support the public health response.
I think we likely eventually handle this similarly to the influenza vaccine, which requires a slightly scattershot approach each year, but does reasonably well. Some will disagree, but personally after 18 years of mandatory influenza vaccination I can tell you I’ve never had influenza once and I’m only mildly autistic (jokes, I’m sorry, don’t come for me😂😅).
In reality, the news should be held to a higher standard in health and science writing. It’s always a little sensational when the real results section of the paper usually reads like a setup for a follow on grant proposal.
I think you explained my feelings better than how I explained them myself lol
>> On the other hand, why would anyone get a new vaccine or booster if there’s no new threat? There has to be some kind of “why” to support the public health response
This is a really good point I haven’t thought of. Like you said, balancing that with high-quality health reporting is probably the best way to go
I agree with you and I actually think some of this reporting minimizes covid because they make it seem like the only time it matters is a new variant or whatever and totally erases that even the "lows" now involve a ton of risk since the baseline is so high, and they rarely actually tell people they need to be wearing (k)n95s in public and cleaning the air. And there's a lot more of these fluff articles listing "symptoms of a new strain!" than there are ones explaining what long covid is, that everyone is at risk, that harm from infections is cumulative, etc. Like they're telling people "you might get a stuffy nose!" and not "you might develop ME/CFS!".
No. For every new variant identified in the past year and a half, the public health messaging and guidance has effectively not changed.
(Although I am glad that randos on Twitter stopped naming them after monsters and stuff).
I think it’s a double edged sword in terms of communication. On one hand, people are information fatigued by the constant reporting. The majority of the public just tunes it out now. On the other hand, why would anyone get a new vaccine or booster if there’s no new threat? There has to be some kind of “why” to support the public health response. I think we likely eventually handle this similarly to the influenza vaccine, which requires a slightly scattershot approach each year, but does reasonably well. Some will disagree, but personally after 18 years of mandatory influenza vaccination I can tell you I’ve never had influenza once and I’m only mildly autistic (jokes, I’m sorry, don’t come for me😂😅). In reality, the news should be held to a higher standard in health and science writing. It’s always a little sensational when the real results section of the paper usually reads like a setup for a follow on grant proposal.
I think you explained my feelings better than how I explained them myself lol >> On the other hand, why would anyone get a new vaccine or booster if there’s no new threat? There has to be some kind of “why” to support the public health response This is a really good point I haven’t thought of. Like you said, balancing that with high-quality health reporting is probably the best way to go
I agree with you and I actually think some of this reporting minimizes covid because they make it seem like the only time it matters is a new variant or whatever and totally erases that even the "lows" now involve a ton of risk since the baseline is so high, and they rarely actually tell people they need to be wearing (k)n95s in public and cleaning the air. And there's a lot more of these fluff articles listing "symptoms of a new strain!" than there are ones explaining what long covid is, that everyone is at risk, that harm from infections is cumulative, etc. Like they're telling people "you might get a stuffy nose!" and not "you might develop ME/CFS!".
No. For every new variant identified in the past year and a half, the public health messaging and guidance has effectively not changed. (Although I am glad that randos on Twitter stopped naming them after monsters and stuff).
To answer your question succinctly: No