507: New Vaccine Poll Data, Blogs Help PH Workers Connect

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, September 20, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

GILLIAN STEELFISHER: 

For this specific poll, we focused on these three vaccines because we know so many folks are preparing for this more complex respiratory virus season coming up. And we hope that understanding public sentiment can really help guide messaging and outreach as well as shape media response.

JOHNSON: 

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher with the Harvard Opinion Research Program, talking about the public's view of vaccines for COVID-19, the flu and RSV.

STEELFISHER: 

COVID-19 killed more than a million people in the United States, and the vaccine has been shown to be incredibly effective at reducing death and serious illness with exceedingly rare serious side effects. The flu vaccine is also very safe, but actually has quite variable effectiveness each year. And seasonal flu in most years kills far fewer people. But what does the public think, the public actually sees these two vaccines is nearly equivalently effective. About 40% of people say each is very effective. And the public sees the flu vaccine is far safer. And so not surprisingly, more people are interested in getting the flu vaccine this coming season.

JOHNSON: 

SteelFisher says when it comes to the RSV vaccine, people don't know much about it.

STEELFISHER: 

About half of people have never heard of RSV or the RSV vaccine. And for those who have heard of the vaccine, there's another 40% or so that say they don't know anything about its effectiveness or safety.

JOHNSON: 

The work, according to SteelFisher, can help set expectations about public interest in vaccines as the respiratory virus season gets underway.

STEELFISHER: 

There is fairly modest interest in the COVID-19 vaccine or RSV vaccine and a bit more interested in flu, particularly from older folks. But I think the media often uses the metric of vaccine uptake as a judgment of public health. And I'm hoping that our results can help leaders at the state and local level to sort of set appropriate expectations with the media and reduce unwarranted criticism as the season goes on.

JOHNSON: 

SteelFisher cautions these results don't mean the public is against vaccines. In fact, she says 80% of people believe vaccine development is a good thing. Read more about the survey using the link in the show notes.

A series of eight wellness blog articles written for people at the Washington State Department of Health are celebrated in a new ASTHO blog article. Dr. Jennifer Thomas came up with the idea.

JENNIFER THOMAS: 

Well, one of the things that I really wanted to do was be able to connect on a personal level with employees. I really wanted to be able to share lived experiences that I've had in order to be able to build trust, to be able to share some thoughts and ideas around their feelings and to just validate the overall feelings that they may be experiencing, especially as public health workforce workers.

JOHNSON: 

The blog series is a natural fit for Thomas given her love of writing.

THOMAS: 

I am a writer and I'm a storyteller at heart. I'm also a qualitative researcher. So, talking through the heart with words was something that definitely was something that I absolutely go towards, and I flocked towards. And so the idea just came in being able to connect with others through words in the past. And this was an opportunity for me to do that here.

JOHNSON: 

Thomas says each blog tries to connect with people and let them know that their concerns and feelings are being heard.

THOMAS: 

I definitely just wanted to be able to validate what they were feeling and continue to support them in a way that they felt heard. And they felt like somebody or the agency as a whole was listening to what they were saying and providing the resources that they needed in order to continue to live a healthy life.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Thomas says the feedback has been positive. Read about her experience using the link in the show notes.

Also today, are you looking to learn more about AI and its impact on public health? ASTHO recently hosted a webinar to examine the question. O'Keyla Cooper has more. ASCO informatics

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

ASTHO Informatics and Innovation leaders recently gathered to discuss the potential of artificial intelligence in state and territorial public health. The event covered topics like AI fundamentals, its diverse applications, concerns from public health professionals, ongoing AI projects in government and health sectors, and associated risks. The presenters highlighted ASTHO's dedication to promoting discussions about AI's role in state and territorial public health. A link to the full presentation is provided in the show notes.

JOHNSON: 

Finally, this morning, get more public health news like this with ASTHO's Public Health Weekly email newsletter. Join the list using the link in the show notes.

We'd also like to remind you to follow this newscast on your podcast player, and ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.