Lack of trust in government during the pandemic arguably led to hundreds of thousands of COVID deaths.
This pandemic has been less about the microbe spreading around and more about the people to which it’s spreading.
Tom Bollyky, Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations
Vilifying health care professionals hasn’t made it any easier to recruit doctors and nurses to small towns.
Frank Morris, KCUR
And then to add insult to injury, we have lower rates, for example, of childhood immunization that directly come out of the pandemic and the mistrust in vaccines generally now. And so we’re going to start seeing childhood diseases that we thought we’ve eradicated returning.
Brock Slabach, chief operations officer at the National Rural Health Association
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The mediating role of health literacy on the relationship between health care system distrust and vaccine hesitancy during COVID-19 pandemic
The degree of applying mask-wearing, hygiene rule and physical distance, and the level of COVID-19 vaccine literacy were modeled. It was found that health care system distrust and health literacy were the most important variables that had an impact on vaccine hesitancy. Health authorities need to consider the dynamic and complex factors around the health care system distrust and health literacy to reduce vaccine hesitancy during COVID-19. Current Psychology
Public trust in governments, health care providers, and the media during pandemics: A systematic review
Among the most important factors that determine whether public health recommendations receive widespread adherence during pandemics is public trust in the information disseminated by governments, health care providers, and the media. Here researchers identified several unintended outcomes of mistrust when communicating public health recommendations such as non-compliance with recommended health measures, seeking information from alternative sources, and vaccine hesitancy. Journal of Trust Research
Can the Health-Care System Meet the Challenge of Pandemic Flu? Planning, Ethical, and Workforce Considerations
Communication is essential when preparing for an influenza pandemic and any other public health disaster. Besides planning for effective communication within the health-care and government sectors, public health agencies must assure that there are excellent communication links into the community. During a pandemic, actions taken willingly by the public in response to accurate, scientific information will reduce contagion and suffering. Clear, trusted, and coordinated communication with the public will be essential to avoid unnecessary risk of infection, confusion, anger, and the overwhelming demand for health care. It will also increase the likelihood that the public will follow the directions of the local public health officer.
Because people naturally seek information from multiple sources in a crisis, we must strive to ensure that inconsistent information and advice does not lead to individuals taking the wrong action or no action at all. Providing information to the public about any disaster or epidemic is tricky because the scene constantly changes. Public Health Reports