On Tuesday, A Toolkit for COVID-19 consisting of a step-by-step guide was delivered by the government through which the right information could be spread, and awareness can be made. This toolkit is delivered and thoroughly checked by the government’s best doctor.
Vivek Murthy, who is a Surgeon General while having an interview with ABC News, mentioned that awareness and conversations relating to Covid 19 need to be made throughout the country. People from all communities and all areas need to know about the vaccination and its guarantee of safety.
Murthy said that we could not expect things to get better by just making the government talk about Covid. We need to be sure people are listening and, most importantly, understanding. Because if people understand, they are the ones who can convince each other among themselves to get vaccinated; otherwise, there are no high probabilities of people trusting the government through other approaches.
Toolkit for COVID-19 Guide
This Toolkit for COVID-19 guide has guides and videos of people who have already gotten their shots. They share their experience through videos to convince them that the things they have heard from people are baseless myths. Vaccination is safe for everyone.
The surgeon general in the summers of 2021 warned against the misinformation and called it an urgent health threat for the public.
The toolkit is designed for everyone, including children, parents, teachers, and even health professionals too. Kaiser Family Foundation carried out a survey through which it was found that out of every ten, eight individuals have been misinformed about COvid 19. The thing about misinformation is that there is always uncertainty whether to believe it or not, and the same was the case with these eight out of every ten individuals.
Misinformation is deadly; It can cost people their lives. The best example of that is the ongoing covid crises. It is only because of the spread of misinformation that people abstain from vaccination.
Dr. Vivek Murthy has called upon the tech industry and the social media owners to look out for any spread of misinformation. Because nowadays, social media plays a huge role in spreading news, whether true or false.
Murthy further said that These companies did try to spread awareness and block out the misinformation in the beginning, but now, with time, they are taking it lightly and ignoring it too.
On Tuesday, there was some information released throughout the social media that basically advised people to abstain from communication online and talk in person because that will reduce misinformation and misunderstanding as well. One of the sections of this information had a quote, “If You are not sure, then do not share!” which is pretty catchy and will get a lot of attention.
The toolkit consists of questions from people, discussions, and graphic illustrations to help engage better and spread awareness better. Reading it will easily clear one’s mind on how to avoid misinformation and even tell the misinformation and truth apart.
The approach suggested that has mostly proved to be effective is listening, being kind, and avoiding hate and shame. Through this approach, a lot of things could be fixed, especially the trust issues people have regarding the vaccines.
The only thing that has gotten us this far into covid 19 is the mistrust. We need to build trust and unity, get vaccinated together to save ourselves and everyone else too.
It says that while communicating with your loved ones like family or your friends, You should be careful, and you should be focusing on letting them know that you really understand that people have difficulty trusting others.
Dr. Murphy said that knowing the real cause of the spread of the virus was that the unvaccinated Americans willingly allowed its spread. Knowing that it could take lives and it could make people and their loved ones go through extreme pain, people still have not gotten vaccination and let the virus spread.
Even if the vaccinated citizens show anger and hatred towards them, it will not change them. Nothing changes with violence, blame, hatred and shaming. In reality, these things cause one to become steadfast on his decision which, instead of helping with the problem, will make it worse.
Murthy said that he recently met an unvaccinated person. They started talking, and Murthy found out this person, just like many others, had been affected by myths through Facebook and other social media platforms. Murthy tried to convince him with a minute conversation in which he tried to answer all his questions and concerns in detail.
He said he had been honest with him. No matter what he asked, Murthy replied with patience and calm, which helped them both carry the conversation smoothly and effectively.
Murthy also told the reporters that this man actually sent him a Thank you note after he got himself vaccinated. He said the conversation they had was very effective and had some valid undeniable points which convinced him to get vaccinated. Now that he had gotten the vaccine, he felt much better and did not show any signs or symptoms which would be considered dangerous. Now he can be safe himself and keep everyone else safe, too, as a responsible citizen.
So, in conclusion, we all carry the responsibility on our shoulders to fight covid, and this responsibility can be fulfilled through vaccination. To convince people to get vaccinated, You should first start with listening to people, letting them talk. Make sure that during these conversations, you keep an open mind and understand their struggles. Be empathetic towards them. Then try to share your own experience and views on this, and you can share the experience of their doctors on them, just anyone whom they trust. This is the only proven effective way till now to get rid of Covid 19 altogether.
Also Read: At the Request of the Feds, Schools will be Providing COVID-19 Shots For the kids
