This brief provides accurate information regarding breastfeeding and COVID-19 and addresses ways for protecting yourself from mis- or disinformation. This brief was published by the COVID-19 and Infant Feeding Working Group (CIF WG) and PATH.
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When deciding whether to get vaccines in general, Americans are highly concerned about side effects. Indeed, this concern is one of the most common reasons people report for delaying or refusing vaccination. Even minor side effects, such as swelling and pain at injection sites, often deter people from vaccination.
This is especially true of parents, who are loath to inflict pain on their children. For the COVID-19 vaccine in particular, fear of side effects is, according to a poll in September 2020, the most common reported reason for potential refusal.
This article points out that looking at this issue from the lens of behavioral science will aid in understanding how to tackle the problem.
Source: Misunderstanding Vaccine Side Effects Poses a Problem for Uptake
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This article is based on an interview with behavioral scientist Katy Milkman and social neuroscientist Jay Van Bavel, hosted by the journal Behavioral Scientist.
The two shared their insights on a range of topics—vaccine uptake, how political identity and polarization have impacted public health, their behavior-change bright spots from an otherwise challenging year, and more.
The author lists four lessons learned from this interview:
Source: Four Things I Learned About Behavior Change During a Pandemic
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Recently, there has been an increase in vaccine hesitancy in low and middle income countries (LMICs) due to safety concerns and long-term effects. With this skepticism, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases that were once thought mostly eradicated such as measles, pertussis and diphtheria, have increased in frequency around the world.
The author cites various reasons for this situation, and offers some advice as how to combat vaccine hesitancy in LMICs.
Source: Combating Vaccine Hesitancy in Developing Countries
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This is a report from a survey taken in Britain during its third lockdown. This survey found that 60 percent of Britons are finding it harder to stay positive during this time.
The authors spoke to psychologists and mental health experts about things one can do if one’s mental wellbeing is being affected by the winter lockdown.
Source: 7 Acts of Self-care You Can Practice during a Winter Lockdown
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This article explains that there is a good deal of misinformation that has been spread about the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine that might be detrimental to women’s health.
The author conlcudes that: “For any woman who is pregnant, nursing or trying to conceive, contracting Covid-19 is almost certainly more dangerous than getting immunized. And ultimately, mass vaccination, combined with physical distancing and wearing masks, provides the only way that we can end the pandemic and protect all women, men and children from the disease.”
Source: The False Rumors About Vaccines That Are Scaring Women
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This dashboard is a visualization of a study of global vaccine acceptance and is a collaboration among Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Facebook Data for Good, MIT, WHO and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.
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While the COVID-19 pandemic will increase mortality due to the virus, it is also likely to increase mortality indirectly. In this study, the authors estimate the additional maternal and under-5 child deaths resulting from the potential disruption of health systems and decreased access to food.
The results of the study show that if routine health care is disrupted and access to food is decreased (as a result of unavoidable shocks, health system collapse, or intentional choices made in responding to the pandemic), the increase in child and maternal deaths will be devastating. The authors hope these numbers add context as policy makers establish guidelines and allocate resources in the days and months to come.
Source: Early Estimates of the COVID-19 Impact on Maternal and Child Health
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This video, produced by the World Health Organization, was posted on Twitter. The speakers explain exactly how the COVID-19 vaccine works, its safety, and its importance.
Source: How the COVID-19 Vaccine Works
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As the introduction of effective COVID-19 vaccines is on the horizon, it is time to quickly expand SBC programs to address public acceptance of and generate demand for these critical public health tools.
This quick start guide was developed to support FHI 360 programs and their partners to design and implement demand creation and advocacy activities as part of national COVID-19 vaccine introduction efforts. This guide draws primarily on FHI 360’s experience designing and implementing SBC programs to promote uptake of health products and services, including vaccination services, but also borrows from other global tools, including those developed by the WHO and UNICEF.
This resource can be used by SBC practitioners as a step-by-step guide to take them from defining and understanding local SBC needs to implementing and adjusting activities to respond to changing conditions. Importantly, this resource is intended as a living document where additional design and implementation tools will be added (or removed), and adaptations made to ensure the guide and its component parts remain current and useful.
Source: Demand Creation and Advocacy for COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake
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This website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Breakthrough ACTION Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-17-00017. Breakthrough ACTION is based at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP).The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Breakthrough ACTION and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Johns Hopkins University.
