Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication

Abstract

Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seeking to address the vaccine skepticism challenge this essay surveys the research on vaccine hesitancy and trust building through the lens of the rhetorical situation and points towards five broad principles for a content strategy for public health communicators in regards to vaccination: 1) vaccine hesitancy is not irrational per se; 2) messages should be tailored to the various hesitancy drivers; 3) what is perceived as trustworthy is situational and constantly negotiated; 4) in areas of uncertainty where no exact knowledge exists, the character of the speaker becomes more important; and 5) the trustworthiness of the speaker can be strengthened through finding some common ground—such as shared feelings or accepted premises—with the audience. Such common insights are on offer in the literature on rhetoric and persuasion and linked here with the research on vaccine communication and trust focusing specifically on the latter and character.

(De)legitimation of COVID-19 vaccination narratives on Facebook comments in Romania: Beyond the co-occurrence patterns of discursive strategies

“…In the first stage of the analysis, I started from the idea that the perception of source trustworthiness is situated and constantly negotiated (Ihlen et al, 2021). Thus, through an iterative process, three main types of sources telling their stories about vaccination were identified in all Facebook posts, namely: health experts, laypersons and role models.…”

“…Within this new paradigm where ‘the legitimacy of doubt’ should be acknowledged (Mohammed and Rossi, 2022: 140), international and national health authorities should be aware that social media used in public information campaigns act as ‘two-sided swords of health communication’ either undermining and/or enhancing the public trust in scientific expertise (Van Dijck and Alinejad, 2020: 8). Although public health actors use content strategies to reduce public scepticism and eventually lead to a shift in vaccination behaviour (Dubé et al, 2020; Hinyard and Kreuter, 2007; Ihlen et al, 2021; Warren and Lofstedt, 2021), ‘nonexpert voices (. .…”

“…The focus on a bottom-up perspective is especially essential in the context where the authority dimension is ‘based on perceived legitimacy’ (Gilpin et al, 2010: 263). Thus, although the (de)legitimation of an authority and/or an issue is co-produced through stakeholder participation (Castelló et al, 2016; Glozer et al, 2019), one should not forget that confidence in sources in negotiated (Ihlen et al, 2021) in the postmodern medical paradigm.…”

“…This campaign, entitled #storiesfromvaccination/ #poveștidelavaccinare, was awarded the first prize at the national social media competition Webstock for ‘the best use of user generated content’. Analysis of the (de)legitimation strategies used in the multimodal comments on the Facebook posts embedding personal stories is valuable since the ‘hybrid media ecology’ (Ihlen et al, 2021: 6) brings forth a multiplicity of voices and potential counter-discourses (Vestergaard and Uldam, 2022). Therefore, I will adopt a bottom-up perspective to (de)legitimation and the aims of the research are the following:…”

Using Natural Language Processing to Extract Intelligence for Public Health Crises

“…As pointed out by Salmon et al (2021) the pandemic has affected African American communities more so than other communities, compounded by memory of the historical and cultural experience with experimental medical research for people of color. Such contextual information suggests that no one can take public trust for granted, including health authorities (Ihlen, Toledano, & Just, 2021).…”