How 'pissing people off' is not going to get them to change their attitudes to vaccines
Trust thought for today - about how 'pissing people off' is not going to get them to change behaviour.
Macron is going to make strenuous effort to 'piss off' the unvaccinated so much that ....they will get vaccinated.
As Heidi Larsen, head of the Vaccine Confidence Project has said, the hesitancy problem is mainly a trust problem. In a sensitive setting with all the baggage attached to this whole issue is it likely that pissing people off will make them think ‘oh I think he is right after all I think I’ll get eg a vaccine!’ No.
The reasons that people are vaccine hesitant are very complex and personal and it seems to best to do as Kahneman said “don’t try and persuade (or piss off!) Understand the source of resistance and address that.” This may mean restrictions, potentially even mandated in some areas, but a general policy of making people angry isn't good for long term compliance either.
I can really understand how spectacularly annoyed we all are that some don't get vaccinated and gobsmacked at the seemingly bonkers rationales some (including people I know) have for refusing.
But it is a trust problem. So do the things that earn trust. Eg here from the Vaccine Confidence Project:
https://vaccine-confidence.squarespace.com/the-confidence-project
1) Listen:
There are many different experiences, histories, beliefs, perceptions and genuine questions around vaccines. Listen to them, they may reveal more than you expected and help understand what is driving those beliefs.
2) Engage:
Make communication a dialogue, engage multiple people in the community outside of the health services to be listeners, and help address concerns and questions.
3) Innovate:
Try something different than you have ever tried before. Try to think of anything else that is like a vaccine, think of metaphors. Does anything come close?
4) Co-create:
Involve those who are meant to get vaccines in designing the best strategy to reach them and their peers.
5) Vaccinate Liberate:
Think of all the ways that vaccination is a passport to freedom.