An 80% take up of a COVID-19 vaccine could be necessary to protect the community but, given the scale and complexity of the task, vaccines will not be a silver bullet, according to a report published today by the British Academy and the Royal Society for the SET-C (Science in Emergencies Tasking: COVID-19) group.
The author of COVID-19 vaccine deployment, Oxford Professor Melinda Mills FBA, calls for a “frank conversation” with the public to manage expectations that life will not immediately get back to normal when vaccines arrive. An open dialogue is critical to build public support about who has priority, address fears about safety, communicate complex information about multiple vaccines and counter misinformation and public complacency.
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Note: Advice provided by experts on a draft of this report during a joint British Academy, Social Science Research Council and the UK’s Science & Innovation Network in the USA Roundtable ‘Vaccination Engagement’ on 8 October 2020.
Source: Vaccine hesitancy threatens to undermine pandemic response | The British Academy