Dr. Glen Solomon, professor and chairman of Internal Medicine and Neurology at Wright State University, said the messaging around the vaccine will be critical in the current polarized political environment. Vaccine efforts will only work if they are safe and effective, as well as trusted by the public.
“We need to make sure that we have the science and that the data is strong and adequate so that people do feel comfortable taking the vaccine,” Solomon said.
It is important that pharmaceutical companies have been becoming more transparent about the vaccine development process, such as sharing more information about trials and timelines, which he said helps build trust.
The plan also specifically calls for thinking about equity and communication to reduce racial disparities, such as culturally appropriate messaging in different languages and working with trusted community messengers.
Solomon also said it is important for the public to be aware that getting vaccines available and administered will take time and in the mean time people must continue with preventative measures like mask wearing.
“You can’t rush these things. Science, as fast as we can make it work, takes time,” he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress in late September that there’s optimism that one or more safe and effective vaccines could be found by the end of the year and enough doses could be available in the spring.
It takes time for vaccines to be developed and tested, Solomon said, and it then takes time for them to be distributed and administered, with no firm timeline available at this time on those processes. He said he would be surprised if the rollout was less than a yearlong process from the time a vaccine was approved.
“So people shouldn’t be expecting to giving up masks and social distancing and handwashing any time in the near future. This is not going to magically go away once a vaccine is approved,” he said. “This is going to take along time.”
Nursing homes and other long-term care providers, which have been hard hit by the coronavirus, have been closely following the vaccine development. Less than 1% of the U.S. live in a nursing home but those residents make up 40% of COVID-19 deaths.
Patrick Schwartz, spokesman for LeadingAge Ohio, which represents nonprofit long-term care providers, said it is important that long-term care is prioritized with the vaccine rollout. He said nursing homes struggled in the spring during the initial pandemic to get prioritized for supplies and testing.
“We can learn from those experiences and get this vaccine process right,” Schwartz said.
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