COVID & Consumer Common Sense (Craig Douglass On Consumers)

She said it, and I believe it. “Folks are supposed to have common sense,” said Kay Ivey, Republican governor of Alabama. “But it’s time to start blamin’ the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that’s lettin’ us down.”

I suppose there is enough blame to go around. And the science on which we rely continues to evolve. That’s what science does. It observes, measures, experiments, formulates, tests and modifies. We need to “modify” with it and adapt to better protect ourselves, our families and our community.

A highly contagious disease suspends individualism, levels our pride, and is a shared common denominator. Twelve-step programs have a tradition: Common welfare comes first. Personal recovery depends on unity.

Many Americans, by their nature, are suspicious. And some epidemiologists and experts are downright condescending. It’s not a good mix.

A place to start is to meet those who are hesitant about the vaccine — and this is not a monolithic group — where they are. Why are they suspicious, distrustful, scared? How have they been misled or led in an ineffective way?

Consumer marketing strategies may help. Here are some questions: What are they trying to say or demonstrate with their aversion to the vaccine? What are they not saying? What motivates them on other health decisions? Do they doubt themselves while saying they doubt others? How concerned are they with making a wrong decision? What matters most to them, and what are their expectations?

Recent polling in Arkansas reveals one roadblock to the vaccine is the unproven long-term effects of the shot. Does that suggest these folks would be more likely to get the vaccine later, after they see those who have been vaccinated have no long-term effects (other than staying healthy)? Seems like a bit of “whataboutism,” when what we are dealing with is based on real-time, dramatic increases in virus cases fueled by the delta variant, primarily among the unvaccinated.

If government and health care leaders were to say, “Can’t you see that? Don’t you care? How can you be so ill-informed?” we’d be back to blaming and condescension. Won’t work.

Effective communication designed to encourage consumers to make the desired decision is based on not telling them what you want but showing them how to get what they want.

Here are some communications strategies to consider when targeting the unvaccinated:

► Remember the vaccine was developed during the Trump administration under Operation Warp Speed. Don’t be afraid to cite that fact.

► Address specific groups of the unvaccinated like people of color, evangelicals and those who self-identify with the Republican Party. Employ messengers from each of these groups — real people, not celebrities — to communicate true stories about hospitalizations or deaths of those unvaccinated. Emphasize the risk and the proven, negative outcomes.

► Keep the messages simple, not scientific, and empathetic to hesitancy.

► Increase access to and incentives for the vaccines.

► Spend little time trying to convince those who distrust government and science. Focus resources on those most likely to listen.

Alabama’s governor has one view, and I get it. A candidate for Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, gave her opinion in a July 25 column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She wrote, “Like many of you, I have had a lot of misinformation thrown at me by politicians and the media during the pandemic. And, like many of you, I spent a lot of time sorting through it all, trying to make the best decision I could for myself and my family.”

She concluded: “So to anyone still considering the merits of vaccination, I leave you with this encouragement: Pray about it, discuss it with your family and your doctor. Filter out the noise and fear-mongering and condescension, and make the best, most informed decision you can that helps your family, community, and our great state be its very best.”

Common sense.

Craig Douglass serves as executive director of the Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District in Pulaski County.