Shaming Unvaccinated People Could Backfire, Positive And Encouraging Words Should Be Used, Believe Health Experts

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : August 10, 2021

Unvaccinated individuals are hastily getting sick from the ultra-contagious delta variant, and they are regularly sick. director of the Centers for Disease Manage and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that more than 97% of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in mid-July have been unvaccinated. 

In an editorial, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported that it’s a pandemic of ignorance and a surge of mere stupidity. High levels of infections among unvaccinated people increase the threat to everyone, and headline after headline has been attacking them. Unvaccinated individuals are being tagged as idiots, arrogant, selfish, worse and so many other names.

Public health officials informed that the anger these days is understandable, unproductive, and substantial. They worry that shaming and blaming the unvaccinated could backfire – rooting their choice instead of persuading them to get the vaccine dose.

The easiest solution to get out of deaths and sufferings of the COVID-19 virus is to get hundreds of thousands of American citizens vaccinated. Mandates might also assist, but insults, anger, and dismissiveness are extensively taken into consideration as a terrible way to persuade people to get vaccinated.

University of Alabama’s biocultural medical anthropology assistant professor Stephanie McClure said that calling someone an idiot is not the solution, it would not encourage anyone. She said that one can not get anywhere by attacking people.

She added that it wasn’t an effective solution to the situation to shame and insult people. McClure leads the team for CommuniVax of Alabama. It is an alliance for the underserved Black, Indigenous, and Latino populations between the pandemic. 

Shaming Unvaccinated People Could Backfire, Positive And Encouraging Words Should Be Used

Marlene Millen, a primary health care doctor said that she is tired and exhausted of the unvaccinated people. She said that she has learned that pointing fingers wouldn’t help.

Experts of medicine said that they don’t approve of calling it pandemic of the unvaccinated as stated by the federal government, as it divides and creates a gulf between both sides of vaccinated adults and the unvaccinated. 

Shaming Unvaccinated People Could Backfire, Positive And Encouraging Words Should Be Used, Believe Health Experts

Ph.D. in the history of behavioral science, Gleb Tsipursky doesn’t like the term either. He said that this was fixing people into groups. He is Disaster Avoidance Experts’ CEO and has written a book recently about returning back to the workplace amidst the pandemic. 

Many Americans are vaccine-reluctant, but many haven’t taken the vaccine for a number of other reasons, said dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, Ashish Jha. 

In an editorial, McClure wrote that people are vaccine-hesitant for many reasons. Many are afraid, many are misinformed and several do not simply trust the vaccines. 

McClure conversed with the unvaccinated people and believes that their path can be diverted, only if others try to listen to their concerns. Many worry about the vaccine’s side effects, many are concerned about the breakthrough infection and several are not medically literate.

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McClure said that African Americans are highly affected by the pandemic because the healthcare and officials of the US do not care about them equally. This is the reason that they become skeptical and doubtful of the authorities and don’t motivate them to get vaccinated. 

Tsipursky believes that blaming and shaming backfires and doesn’t help in motivating people, especially when it has become a political issue. These words create a defensive response and they may lash out at the officials. 

He said that positive and motivating words should be used. It can be said that getting vaccinated means protecting the country and their families, being a patriot. 

Millen hopes that the US people will have patience especially amidst the surge of the highly contagious delta variant. She wants the message to be passed on, that vaccination prevents severe hospitalizations and deaths.

Experts of medicine said that they don’t approve of calling it pandemic of the unvaccinated as stated by the federal government, as it divides and creates a gulf between both sides of vaccinated adults and the unvaccinated.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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