12 January 2021
A team of scientific experts, led by the University of Bristol, have created an online guide to help fight the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. Topics in the handbook include public behaviour and attitudes, policy, facts, and misinformation.
The guide aims to arm people with practical tips and provide up-to-date information and evidence to talk reliably about the vaccines, reduce fear and constructively challenge associated myths. It includes:
- Key facts and messages about vaccines and uptake
- How to engage with someone expressing vaccine uncertainty
- Evidence-informed communication approaches to address myths and reduce misinformation
PolicyBristol has created a brief for policymakers with key information which you can find here - COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook - PolicyBristol Brief (PDF, 203kB)
You can find the full handbook here. The handbook links to a ‘living library’ of information that will be regularly updated.
Lead author Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol, said: “The COVID-19 vaccines are a stunning accomplishment of science. But our passage to freedom depends on most people getting vaccinated. This handbook and the associated wiki give frontline medical staff, journalists, policy makers, and the public at large the tools to understand why vaccines are safe and how misinformation about them can be rebutted.”
Further information
About the Bristol UNCOVER group
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, researchers at the University of Bristol formed the Bristol COVID Emergency Research (UNCOVER) Group to pool resources, capacities, and research efforts to combat this infection.
Bristol UNCOVER includes clinicians, immunologists, virologists, synthetic biologists, aerosol scientists, epidemiologists and mathematical modellers and has links to behavioural and social scientists, ethicists and lawyers and is supported by a large number of junior academic and administrative colleagues.
Follow Bristol UNCOVER on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/BristolUncover
For more information about the University of Bristol’s coronavirus (COVID-19) research priorities visit: www.bristol.ac.uk/research/impact/coronavirus/research-priorities/
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