The Covid-19 vaccine has finally arrived on our shores and people across the county are lining up to take it, to protect themselves from a virus which has changed each and every one of our lives.
But while we wait our turn, wait for the jabs which will provide immunity from that dreaded illness, a fresh debate has arisen: namely, which vaccine should we take?
There are currently two vaccinations available in Ireland, those made by Pfizer and Moderna, and they will soon be joined by the AstraZeneca (Oxford) vaccination - pending approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
And what makes this is interesting is that the AstraZeneca vaccine has, to date, been found to produce no allergic reactions.
Science Communication
Researchers
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Facts and scientific evidence should inform public decision-making wherever possible. That is why science communication is important. As such, the act of science communication should also be evidence-based. Research on science communication analyzes what works, and what doesn’t.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the “infodemic” [1] surrounding it have driven the point home once again on many issues. On timely issues like the distribution patterns of the new Coronavirus, climate change and gene editing, or generalized ones such as individual nutrition and healthcare, the public expects researchers to speak up.
Accordingly, political bodies [2], stakeholders, scientific academies and associations [3], science funders [4] and others have called for more, improved science communication in recent years on a worldwide scale. As a result, a myriad of science communication formats and activities abound; from public presentations to open da
What COVID-19 could teach journalists about science
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the media with complicated health science issues, with challenges also relating to how journalists understand the statistics and mathematics underlying the pandemic.
The media’s reporting of COVID-19 often led to criticism by scientists about journalists’ perceived lack of understanding of complex health issues, whereas statisticians and economists criticised journalists for misinterpreting statistics about the pandemic.
The pandemic has emphasised aspects about health science that journalists should give serious attention to in newsrooms. They are listed here.
Understanding the difference between textbook science and frontier science
The distinction that Henry Bauer makes between textbook science and frontier science in the 1992 book