The Biden Administration's Influencer COVID Vaccine Campaign is Counterproductive

This article was originally published on Publish0x.

Introduction: The Importance of Choice

I have made posts here on Publish0x of me taking the Pfizer COVID vaccines. There was definitely some risk involved, but I took the time to gather as much information as I could, and weighed the pros and cons. Most importantly, I was not forced to take the vaccine nor was I badgered by the government or my employer to take it. That's how it should be.

Likewise, I won't get in people's faces if they are hesitant to take the COVID vaccines. These aren't the same anti-vaxxers that believe in crystal magic voodoo. They actually take the time to do their own research and analyze the available data. For instance, MIT did a study on antimask groups and discovered the following:

The researchers found that antimask groups were creating and sharing data visualizations as much as, if not more than, other groups.   And those visualizations weren’t sloppy. “They are virtually indistinguishable from those shared by mainstream sources,” says Satyanarayan. “They are often just as polished as graphs you would expect to encounter in data journalism or public health dashboards.”   ...  

Antimaskers on Facebook weren’t eschewing data. Rather, they discussed how different kinds of data were collected and why. “Their arguments are really quite nuanced,” says Lee. “It’s often a question of metrics.” For example, antimask groups might argue that visualizations of infection numbers could be misleading, in part because of the wide range of uncertainty in infection rates, compared to measurements like the number of deaths. In response, members of the group would often create their own counter-visualizations, even instructing each other in data visualization techniques.

As a result, it would be completely disingenuous to label people who are skeptical and hesitant of the COVID vaccines as anti-vaxxers. They are absolutely capable of practicing scientific inquiry and verification. Shaming and brute forcing tactics (the latter of which I wrote about here) will only backfire. Ah, speaking of which...

The Biden Admin Recruits... TikTokers???

Unfortunately, the Biden administration still does not get the memo. Earlier this month, it decided to recruit what the New York Times dubbed an "influencer army" comprised of Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and TikTokers to convince particularly the 12-39 demographic to get the vaccine. Very recently, TikToker Benito Skinner uploaded a video of himself playing the “Kooper the Gen Z Intern” character to promote the COVID vaccines.

Having watched this a few times, there are several fundamental problems. The video comes off as more of a tourism vlog than anything else. One would assume that the best way to convince people is to... you know, provide data and be transparent with the efficacy rates and side effects. Instead, the one minute video was uninformative and a whole bit of nothing.

The other big issue with these influencer videos is that they tell more than they actually show. This is actually counterproductive as this can trigger what is called psychological reactance. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, Ph.D. in Psychology Today describes the phenomenon as "our brain’s response to a threat to our freedom. Threats to freedom include any time someone suggests or makes you do something. Health communication experts note that reactance sometimes happens in response to health campaigns that tell people to quit smoking. Rather than reducing smoking behavior, these ads sometimes cause people to want to smoke more".

One effective way, according to Miller et al. (2007) is to provide a ‘‘sense of autonomy and self-determination’’. This is why I emphasized at the beginning that choice is important. When you do not command people to take the COVID vaccine, you raise the chances of them eventually taking it by avoiding psychological reactance. If there are some individuals who still don't want to take the vaccine, then the best approach is to reach mutual understanding rather than reacting with hostility.

Closing Thoughts: Be Transparent and Open. Do Not be a JoeHoVaxx Witness

Not everyone will take the vaccine. This is something people need to accept. While there are concerns surrounding the Delta and Lamda variants, they do not justify resorting to slapdash, imposing measures to get more people get the COVID vaccines. People do not like to be told what to do. They will perceive that as a threat to their freedom and will react opposite of the intended effect.

If the Biden administration actually wants to raise the percentage, then it must be transparent and provide data. As of now, the efficacy rates of these vaccines are unclear. For instance, the UK and Israel's data on the Pfizer vaccine contradict each other. The Israeli Health Ministry found that the vaccine is just 39% effective against infection, while being only 41% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID. On the other hand, "a new UK study published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine found the same vaccine to be 88% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID". I believe everyone would agree that making such impactful decisions based off of inconclusive data is inadvisable.

In addition, the government and health officials ought to be more open towards alternative treatment options. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have an FDA warning of rare heart inflammation, so they may not be good for people who have a history of heart problems. There are people like former Offspring drummer, Pete Parada, who have other legitimate health reasons against taking the COVID vaccines. Not to mention, he already had COVID, so he has natural immunity and doesn't actually have a need for the vaccine anyways.

I've written multiple articles on ivermectin on how it disrupts COVID's replication process, and reduces overall cases and deaths. When the drug was distributed in South America and India, it proved to be effective against the lamda and delta variants, respectively. Apparently, Mexico also distributed ivermectin to similar effect and here's a study from Lima-Morales et al. (2021) that investigated the efficacy of a multidrug treatment in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

It's just a shame that there is so much unnecessary politicization behind ivermectin (and hydroxychloroquine), likely due to the fact that the former is off-patent unlike the proprietary vaccines.

However, if the Biden administration truly wants to "end" COVID, then (1) it needs to be more forthright on vaccine data (i.e. efficacy rate, side effects, etc.) and (2) be open towards non-vaccine treatments, not hire TikTokers to make cringey promotion videos.

Oh, and holding yourself and everyone else to the same standards would help, too. Though the Obamas don't seem to agree...

"Rules for thee, but not for me" ~ The Obamas, maybe