Director talks importance of communication during vaccine rollout

Glen Nowak, director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication and a professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, was recently quoted in a USA Today article about the lack of a national campaign regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

Focusing on minority communities is a wise approach, experts say. However, there are still concerns coming from experts and researchers alike.

For example: persuading people to get vaccinated when there’s less supply than demand.

“You do have to match up your messages with peoples’ ability to actually get what you’re promoting,” Nowak said. “Otherwise, you’ll end up with a lot of frustrated people.”

The article emphasized the importance of nimble communication, able to shift to address changing circumstances such as the arrival of COVID-19 variants.

“People are already probably asking: ‘Will this vaccine protect me against these variants? How do you know? When will you know?’” Nowak said. “They have to start thinking now about how they’re going to address these questions. This issue isn’t going to go away.”