Cases in Europe are starting to rise again. COVID is spiraling in Eastern Europe and cases in the West are starting to rise. Russia and multiple Eastern European countries are going back into lockdown because cases and death rates due to COVID have risen.
Why is this happening? Vaccine hesitancy. Across Europe, vaccine culture is not as strong as it is in America. Vaccine misinformation and the general mistrust that surrounds the government (alongside counterfeit vaccines) prevent many Eastern Europeans from getting vaccinated. In the West, outdoor events allow COVID to spread and individuals don’t take mask mandates as seriously as they should. There is also hesitation in vaccinating kids and teenagers, but many adults are vaccinated. Another possibility for the UK and their rise in cases is their AstraZeneca vaccine which shows to not be as effective as Pfizer, for example.
With all this and the Delta variant making a stronger presence in Europe, many countries are going beyond their third waves of COVID. Cases are expected to keep rising as winter approaches.
Questions:
What are ways that vaccine hesitancy can be eliminated in places where people may not be as educated?
Do you think that Europe’s current state of COVID is something we should be worried about?
Even though precautions will be taken, with the travel ban being lifted in America, how do you think it will affect COVID globally?
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/the-uks-covid-infection-rate-is-rising-heres-why.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/25/uk/europe-covid-second-pandemic-winter-intl-gbr/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/21/europe/moscow-lockdown-october-2021-covid-intl/index.html
12 comments:
I think it's common sense to say that in order to decrease the amount of people who are uneducated on the vaccine, there needs to be more efforts to educate people through media and school. However, implementing mandatory lessons on the virus and the benefit of the vaccine could prove to be difficult, especially if people are hesitant about letting children receive it. Also, there are some people who will never change their opinion on the vaccine regardless of how much evidence you have. It will require them to contract the virus themselves to realize the vaccine's importance, but even then, some people would still refuse treatment and deny the vaccine.
To answer the last two questions, I do find Europe's current state concerning, especially with the travel ban being lifted. From the way things are right now, it doesn't seem like the virus is going to subside anytime soon unless everyone gets the vaccine or the world goes into a proper lockdown, both of which are pretty much impossible to achieve. The travel ban only exacerbates the pandemic by allowing people to travel and potentially continue spreading the new variants and whatnot.
In places where people may not be as educated, vaccine hesitancy can be eliminated by minimizing misinformation and educating people on the safety of vaccines. However, I think it’s important that the vaccine hesitant aren’t mocked or bullied or condescended—while a small fraction of the vaccine hesitant are undoubtedly conspiratorial extremists, the overwhelming majority of the vaccine hesitant are lower-class, less-educated people, especially in Eastern Europe. Although concerns surrounding the vaccine may sound absurd to the average Bay Area resident, for someone who knows nothing about the vaccine except that it involves something being injected into their arms that the government alleges will protect them from coronavirus, hesitancy seems a little more reasonable. Concerns surrounding the vaccine should be addressed, not mocked, through educational campaigns and other methods.
But the reason why I think it’s so important to be respectful to the vaccine hesitant isn’t just because I want to be nice—treating the vaccine hesitancy with derision and cruelty is bound to only further strengthen distrust about the vaccine. Additionally, this treatment will likely evoke people’s combative nature, transforming what was once a minor doubt into a full-blown act of resistance. Making it into an “us vs. them” situation is probably the worst possible thing to do in this situation.
To combat vaccine hesitancy amongst the less educated population, first there needs to be an effort to slow the spread of misinformation. Clearly people are not learning based off the consequences of their own actions alone, so I think that starting by remedying their misconceptions is a good starting point. This can be done through a greater media push, but nevertheless there is no guarantee of a shift in public action. At some point there is going to need to be enforcement. This blog mentions how outdoor events in the West are facilitating the spread of covid, and that coupled with reluctancy to follow mask mandates are making covid a constant threat. If the government enforces mandates more at outdoor events whether that be through law enforcement or fines, I think the public would be more inclined to act, since their actions would be having a tangible effect on their life.
I think Europe's currently keeping covid at bay, in comparison to their surges earlier in the year. However, I think it's still something to be worried about. With the US travel ban being lifted specifically, surges across the globe pose a threat that they had not with the travel ban. If any nation starts getting out of hand and people decide to leave before lockdowns start again, there is the potential for the cycle to start all over with a different variant traveling to a new country and spreading like it had in March of 2020.
A popular topic of this blog so far has been social media and the way that it can spread harmful information. I think one way to combat the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine would be for social media companies to better fact check the things being posted on their sites and use their own influence to spread correct information. Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok can all use their own profiles on their app to update people about the state of the pandemic and give accurate information about the vaccine. Also explaining how the vaccine works in the simplest way possible could help a lot of people reduce their hesitancy towards getting the vaccine. People are usually less afraid of the things that they understand. However, social media companies also need to be fact checking posts that come out about COVID-19 and the vaccines so that they can flag any misinformation and reduce its impact. This can probably be done with more specific algorithms and simply with a better reporting system so that the public itself can report posts with misinformation that the company can then review.
The topic we recently covered in class talks about how the media can influence a person's political views and outlooks. I think that the media has a lot of misinformation, causing many to be scared or off put to get the vaccine. I can understand why many are afraid, however, if people are making counterfeit vaccines. I think one needs to read multiple articles with different perspectives so that they are not playing into a confirmation bias. Maks are just as important as getting the vaccine. Like Mary said, I also think the government could do a better job in enforcing mandates by having consequences if caught not wearing a mask in public. I think restaurants and retail stores could also do a better job reinforcing masks, maybe by having signs reminding people to wear masks.
I think that this could affect COVID globally because if people start to travel to Europe, there might be an influx of people getting the delta variant and bringing it back to their home countries. While some may need to travel, I think it is important to keep it to a minimum/take safety precautions in order to prevent getting COVID. Wearing masks both indoors and outdoors would significantly reduce this while traveling and being sure to get tested before and after a trip.
Throughout this pandemic, we have learned more and more about this specific virus, how it affects different age groups, and how to combat it. Because of this knowledge, there have been multiple vaccinations made safe for the public, and we must take advantage of this opportunity to combat the virus and get as many people vaccinated as possible. People have been opposed to getting the vaccine because of misinformation from the media, which as we learned, is very influential and has a big impact on public opinion. Because of this, I think that the government must step in and make it clear what is misinformation and what is necessary to end the pandemic. I think that the most effective way to inform people who are hesitant to get the vaccine is to show people who have gotten the vaccination and show, face to face, how the pros of the vaccine outweigh the cons. Additionally, I think that it is necessary for governments to be more forceful with mask mandates, and even vaccination mandates. If leaders don’t start to be stricter on these mandates, then we will never fully recover from the pandemic.
These European countries need to do something soon in order to get the cases under control before the winter months. As we know from last year, during winter people go indoors where COVID can spread much easier. Therefore, if more people don’t get vaccinated very soon, I think that the high cases in Europe are a cause for concern not only for citizens in these countries, but for the rest of the world.
As we've talked about in class, socialization happens through school, family, and media. To encourage vaccinations in areas like Europe where the population has a weaker urgency to get the COVID-19 vaccine, we must address this issue from its root. Obviously, family life is uncontrollable, however, it is essential that schools take the initiative to educate students on the science behind vaccinations, and thoroughly explain the effects and importance of receiving the vaccine. Additionally, media plays a huge role in shaping people's opinions. False news spreads extremely quickly in the social media world, tainting people's beliefs and in many cases, swaying them away from getting vaccinated because of false conspiracies. Media sources must do a better job fact-checking and ensuring that the spread of fake news is halted to the best of their abilities.
I agree with both Elizabeth, who mentioned that education surrounding the vaccine focusing on teaching how it works in a simple way could be successful, and Audrey, who highlighted that it is mostly less-educated people who don't necessarily understand the science of the vaccine that make up the hesitant population. I think targeted education campaigns toward this group would be effective because of that. In addition, other groups of vaccine-hesitant people who are exposed to more information about the vaccine yet are still hesitant, seems like a group to target second/after, as it would be harder to convince them, and they make up a smaller share.
On another note, the World Health Organization has also highlighted the unequal distribution of vaccines affecting covid spread in different countries, with wealthier countries having excess doses and starting boosters, while poorer countries are running lower. Not only is this unfair, I think this is an area which could very easily decrease COVID spread globally — a person having one shot is more significant than somebody getting their third in a country that is already handling COVID better.
Source about the WHO statement: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/covid-s-resurgence-europe-3-charts-n1283408
Combating the spread of misinformation and disinformation is crucial to decreasing hesitancy surrounding vaccinations. For instance, right-wing conspiracists have taken to spreading disinformation about the vaccine through WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging app. By targeting the elderly and people without much knowledge of the way vaccines work, they encourage these people to spread misinformation and deter even more away from getting vaccinated due to unfounded fears. Certain university groups like the Xinsheng Project combat this misinformation by posting digestible, fact-checked informational pieces on WeChat, helping bring attention to the way things work. Government efforts to target groups hesitant to get vaccinations with PSAs have also shown to be somewhat effective in increasing vaccination rates among these groups. Thus, helping increase the accessibility of necessary information to hesitant and less educated groups can help address the hesitancy to get vaccinated.
As we have learned, people tend to have similar opinions to that of their family and in cases like getting vaccinated, many are sticking to their beliefs due to the fact that there is a lot of misinformation regarding the vaccine. In order to combat this, there needs to be an effort in Europe by the government to educate the public on the importance of getting vaccinated so Covid doesn't continue to spread and lives are saved. Additionally, people may be receiving information about the vaccine from sources that may seem reliable, especially the internet. As a result, there should be some form of crackdown to make sure that facts and real information is spread and not false theories. I do think Europe's Covid situation should be a concern, especially with the new Omicron variant because it's easily transmittable and there is a possibility that the U.S. may have to once again close the borders with nations like the U.K. because there have been reported cases there.
To answer the second question, I think that the U.S. should be extremely careful with reopening the borders because vaccination rates within regions of the U.S. varies. Overall, the nation has done a fairly good job towards convincing Americans to get vaccinated but when international travelers return, there is a high chance that there will be an increase in cases because those who are vaccinated can still contract Covid. In addition, the Delta and Omicron variants have showed that Covid is still persisting and mutating and the pandemic is not over yet.
As we have discussed in class, socialization plays an important role of educating the public. I do believe that Europe's current state of COVID is something to be worried about because if citizens do not trust their government most importantly, then there won't be much to influence them to get the vaccine. Especially if they do not have the proper knowledge and a vaccine that has been as effective as Pfizer, more and more will lose hope and not take any action to receive the vaccine. I definitely agree with Ethan's argument that the U.S. should be extremely careful with reopening its boarders, because if vaccination rates are not increasing in other countries, and more come to the United States, the risk of U.S. citizen health being affected seems very high.
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