Consequently, many parents have expressed fears and reservations (Gerber & Offit, 2021) about having their children vaccinated against COVID-19 and rates of vaccination in this age group may be lower than hoped for (Hamel et al., 2021). This was a significant step in the effort to control the coronavirus epidemic, but it also generated immediate and substantial pushback from an array of vaccine skeptics. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of a COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 – 12 years old. Why do we need infodemiologists?Ī case in point was the announcement last October that the U.S. We have previously advanced the idea that infodemiologists can be an effective method for rapidly addressing online misinformation about science and health when linked to effective infodemic surveillance and diagnostics (Scales et al., 2021). Thus, there is a clear need to add a new form of public health communication that takes into account both the uncertainty of evolving science and the probability that any important new piece of information will be the subject of considerable online activity before experts can weigh in.

One-way communication fails to take into account this new information environment in which every new scientific development can be commented upon even before public health officials have a chance to craft and issue their communications. In today’s information environment, the “audience” has ceased to be entirely the receptive entity it once was on internet and social media platforms people are simultaneously information consumers and producers (Kümpel, 2021), receiving information and reissuing it, often in dramatically altered form. The COVID-19 pandemic has, of course, shown us that this approach is insufficient because it prioritizes top-down communication, from experts to audience.

Such communications have been regarded by public health agencies as sufficient to meet their responsibilities for keeping the public informed. Traditionally, public health institutions carefully craft messages and issue them through websites, press conferences, and via community partners (Savoia et al., 2017). To protect public health, officials must effectively communicate information of health relevance to the public.

Leverage by Nancy S. Thompson