My Action Plan -Will Patterson Science 10

Goal

My goal is to supply the necessary information to people in Maple Ridge, or as many people that I can contact in order to limit the impacts of misinformation, as well as ensure people have the necessary information to make educated decisions for their families and themselves. It is not about convincing people to make a certain decision, but to ensure they have the opportunity to make the right one for them.

Goal

What is a vaccine and why would we take it

A vaccine is an injection from a needle that puts something into your bloodstream to help combat a virus. Generally this means forcing your body to create what is known as antibodies (things in your blood that fight diseases. Specific antibodies fight specific viral infestations) to help battle the virus, without catching the virus. This means that if you do catch the virus, your body is far more prepared and can quickly respond to the virus, meaning you can get better quicker. It can take a week or two to properly develop all the antibodies required for lasting protection.

What is a vaccine?

Why Hesitate?

In 2019, the World Health Organization publicly released it's list of top threats to global health. Scoring above HIV, was Vaccine Hesitancy. In fact Vaccine Hesitancy was eighth (https://anmj.org.au/whos-top-10-threats-to-global-health-in-2019/). So why hesitate? And do vaccines even work? To answer the latter first, yes. And pretty well to.

Why Hesitate?

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/canada/health-canada/migration/healthy-canadians/alt/pdf/healthy-living-vie-saine/immunization-immunisation/material-materiel/infograph-eng.pdf

As we can see from this chart, they are pretty effective at significantly reducing pathogen numbers. So why do some people hesitate, is there any reason not to?

Natural immunity vs Vaccine immunity

Natural Immunity vs Vaccine Immunity

This is another prevalent debate about vaccination. Is it better to get immunity naturally, instead of through the vaccine? Will you be better protected? This often comes out of seeing people get infected after receiving the vaccine, or the 95% effectiveness number. With either, you are not totally immune, there is still a chance you may get it again. When you get immunity naturally, the only differences are the dosage, time of exposure, and infection rate. If you get it naturally you will have a stronger dosage, meaning bigger immune reaction, and potentially more protection. However, you will not be able to absolutely control when you get it, and if you will pass it on to other people. With the vaccine, the dosage is generally less, but having a vaccine does not always mean less protection. There are some vaccines that give more protection then getting the disease (https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/immune-system-and-health). While we do not know if the vaccine will grant you more protection or not yet, we do know that you can control when you get it, and that you cannot spread it to other people, due to the way the vaccine works. There is also little to no chance of death from the vaccine (without complications or allergies.

Protests and ideal situation, what I want to see happen

In an ideal world, everyone would have made their own decision based on proven fact, and everyone's individual circumstances. There would be not guilt-shaming, or efforts to convince people to their opinion. Everyone would have made the right decision for them, not for someone else. This is unfortunately quite unreasonable, even for a small sample I.E Maple Ridge or a school, due to social politics. However, if this project gives enough information, or helps one person make the right decision, or avoid making a catastrophic decision, then this project would have been a success. The impact of helping one is very good for life changing decisions like this. Unfortunately, with all the protests and rallies, the open-mindedness on either side has shrunk. Also, a general rule or enforcement would not quite work because that would force a specific side which would be an issue for either side, as well as would be unfitting in the current social dynamic of "My Body My rules" and "My rights" and anti-establishment. However their may be some limitations on those who do not have the antibodies, or have contracted the virus to protect the rest of the community. That is what I believe should be enforced. But as little restriction as possible without loss of life. If we are sticking to being neutral that is. If the only reason they have against it is aliens or such, and is unfounded, then more strict rules. So a little bit done case by case, instead of blanket rules.

Protests and ideal situation, what I want to see happen

General Public

The first and most obvious group that are effected by vaccine misinformation is the general public. The people who take the vaccines, and run the risk of getting SARS-CoV-2. They are the biggest statistical group, and also those who make or break the pandemic. Rumours are spread quickly among the public, and one person who is misinformed can "infect" many other peoples minds, similar to the MMR vaccine scandal.

General public

Parents

Parents are the next group that are affected. I chose to separate parents, as they are generally more worried, and anxious about their decision, due to the fact they are caring for another lifeform/s who cannot make one for themselves. This provides extra pressure onto them, and can make them far less trustful of government and more trusting of people. People are far easier to trust then a screen or a suit. This is just psychology and instinct. This also makes them far more susceptible to misinformation and malpractice when it comes to vaccines and sickness. The evidence required in order to convince a parent otherwise must be almost foolproof.

Parents

Medias

Medias are one of the foremost methods to perpetuate misinformation in most things. They are how we have always stayed informed. Unfortunately, they do not always inform us objectively. Every company has an agenda, some are to inform, but most are to make money. Whether it is social media or physical media (I.E Newspapers, magasines, etc), or radio and television shows, they all make money in a similar way. They rely on people buying, or tuning in, or commenting, watching and sharing in order to make money. In short they need to grab your attention and potentially make you react. This is how some tabloids, morning shows (Piers Morgan, Undisputed) and social media accounts have stayed alive. Radio shows, and social media also rely heavily on people responding to whatever they present, so subjects like vaccines, where people can become passionate are pretty popular. In continuation companies may present articles that demonstrate the owners opinion, even if it is wrong or factually incorrect. The location also has a big effect. In more rural areas, the target audience probably does not trust the government and science as much as city people. Therefore different articles will be released, even false ones, in order to make more money. The brain does not like encountering information counter to their beliefs. I would not like to go out and buy, or subscribe to a newspaper/media account that continuously proves me wrong. Media companies don't care, after all money does not get sick.

Companies

Certain companies also stand much to gain from misinformation about the vaccines. Especially those in alternative health, vitamins, essential oils etc. People worried about health, and not wanting to take government authorised vaccines, opens up a whole new market for their products. It is an entirely new, and bigger market. The amount of money companies could make doubles or more. Some companies sponsor media companies in order to only present articles about how bad (in most cases) vaccines are, so that people will look for alternatives, which grants them more business. They strongly contribute to many rumours about vaccines, similar to how oil companies influence politicians about environmental issues. The more people who believe their point of view, the more sustained business they get. So vaccines become an extremely important portion of revenue for their company.

Governmental politics

One of the more coveted interest in vaccine and misinformation is politicians. Politicians are experts on profiting off of others misfortune, or claiming things others have done. The Covid virus gives them an additional talking point to debate around, and to promote or diss other competitors when election comes. This may lead to some sponsoring media companies to try and anger people about vaccines, or mis-inform to make a person look bad or good. They try and influence statistics in order to make themselves look good in comparison. If the popular opinion is that our government did very well during the pandemic, they stand a higher chance of re-election. If an opposing politician promotes the message that they did horribly, then they stand a far lower chance of re-election, and the politician who promoted that message through media companies stands a higher chance.

Governmental politics

Lawsuits and vaccine companies

The final major group of people involved that I will put here is a bit of a joint entry. The first is obviously the vaccine companies. They make the vaccines and distribute it, and make a lot of money while doing so. This is pretty evident, as you have countries paying millions of dollars for vaccines. The second is lawsuits/lawyers. This one stems a little from the MMR vaccine. As previously said, an attorney payed Andrew to write about the downfalls of the MMR vaccine. While this has not overtly happened for Covid yet, it shows how people in law can benefit from vaccine misinformation/lack of information. They can earn a lot of money from lawsuits and suing vaccination companies if they have not presented all the facts.

Government

Media

Physical

Examples of advertisements

REFLEXION