The Public’s Role in COVID-19 Vaccination

Monica Schoch-Spana, PhD
Senior Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Senior Scientist, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

A quick note to bring your attention to a new report - The Public’s Role in COVID-19 Vaccination - from a 23-person multidisciplinary working group that I co-chaired with another medical anthropologist, Dr. Emily Brunson.

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/the-publics-role-in-covid-19-vaccination

Drawing on concrete insights from the social, behavioral, and communication sciences, the report provides recommendations on how to advance public understanding of, access to, and acceptance of future vaccines that protect against COVID-19.

Basically, the report explains that the notion “If We Build It/They Will Come” may not apply in the case of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and what can be done about it. It’ll take both bioscience and social/behavioral science to develop clinically successful vaccines that are also socially acceptable during the pandemic.