Castro Indiana, Van Tricht Marie, Bonaccorso Nicole, Sciortino Martina, Garcia Burgos Juan, Costantino Claudio, Gonzalez-Quevedo Rosa
Public and Stakeholder Engagement Department, European Medicines Agency, Domenico Scarlattilaan 6, 1083 HS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE) "G. D'Alessandro", University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Oct 19;11(10):1616. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11101616.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to communicating accurate information about vaccines because of the spread of misinformation. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) tried to reassure the public by communicating early on about the development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines. The EMA surveyed patients/consumers, healthcare professional organizations, and individual stakeholders, both at the EU level and in an Italian regional context. The objectives of the study were to see if the EMA's core information materials were informative and well-understood and which communication channels were preferred by the public. The main findings showed that individual patients/consumers generally prefer to obtain information about COVID-19 vaccines from the internet or mass media, while organizations and individual healthcare professionals prefer to obtain information from national and international health authorities. Both at EU and local levels, participants had a good understanding of the key messages from regulators and found the materials useful and relevant. However, some improvements were recommended to the visual, text, and dissemination formats, including publishing more information on safety and using a more public-friendly language. Also, it was recommended to maintain the EMA's approach of using media, stakeholder engagement, and web-based formats to communicate about COVID-19 vaccines. In conclusion, user-testing of proactive communication materials aimed to prebunk misinformation during a public health crisis helps to ensure that users understand the development and safety of novel vaccine technologies. This information can then be used as a basis for further evidence-based communication activities by regulators and public health bodies in an emergency context.
由于错误信息的传播，新冠疫情给准确传达疫苗信息带来了挑战。欧洲药品管理局（EMA）试图通过尽早通报新冠疫苗的研发和批准情况来安抚公众。EMA在欧盟层面以及意大利一个地区范围内，对患者/消费者、医疗专业组织和个体利益相关者进行了调查。该研究的目的是查看EMA的核心信息材料是否内容丰富且易于理解，以及公众更喜欢哪些沟通渠道。主要研究结果表明，个体患者/消费者通常更喜欢从互联网或大众媒体获取有关新冠疫苗的信息，而组织和个体医疗专业人员则更喜欢从国家和国际卫生当局获取信息。在欧盟和地方层面，参与者都很好地理解了监管机构传达的关键信息，并认为这些材料有用且相关。然而，研究建议在视觉、文本和传播形式方面进行一些改进，包括发布更多关于安全性的信息，并使用更通俗易懂的语言。此外，建议EMA保持利用媒体、利益相关者参与和基于网络的形式来传达新冠疫苗信息的做法。总之，在公共卫生危机期间对旨在预先揭穿错误信息的主动传播材料进行用户测试，有助于确保用户了解新型疫苗技术的研发和安全性。这些信息随后可作为监管机构和公共卫生机构在紧急情况下开展进一步循证传播活动的基础。
