British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology | 2021
Promoting COVID‐19 vaccination through music and drama—Lessons from early phase of the pandemic
Abstract
When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020, and governments worldwide began to take serious actions towards prevention, the creative arts industry responded. While some musicians turned their lyrics to COVID-19 prevention themes, others also created new songs. In Sierra Leone, a group of film makers have created the film “Survivors,” which details how the country prevented Ebola spread, and how lessons from Ebola could be used to fight ongoing pandemic. Largely missing as a theme from these COVID-19 music and drama initiatives is vaccination messaging. Some COVID-19 vaccination sites in high-income countries such as the United States and United Kingdom have observed the power of the creative arts, as those who are vaccinated at such sites are treated to live music. Now is the time for scientists including clinical pharmacologists to harness the power of the creative arts industry to promote vaccination through culturally relevant music, drama and animations. Recent literature shows that individuals, on average, are spending more time on social media as a result of social distancing and shutdowns. Given this observation, social media could be a particularly effective platform to spread the word on safety and efficacy of available vaccines. Endorsement from organizations such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram could boost the impact for various measures, so as to nudge individuals into responding. As seen in the literature, one main reason for vaccine hesitancy is the tendency of many individuals to sharply, or hyperbolically, discount future rewards such as not contracting an illness. Both financial and nonfinancial incentives of small or large magnitude have shown promise in nudging health behaviours. Making the relevant information persist in memory towards positive health behaviour is a challenge that can possibly be achieved through music. We acknowledge that one current limitation is the scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in lowand middle-income regions such as Africa where only 2.91 per 100 people had taken at least a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine compared with the UK figure of 67.73 as of 13 July 2021. However, a secondary limitation as being observed in high-income countries such as the United States is vaccine hesitancy. As more individuals are vaccinated and additional vaccines are produced, countries may have saturated the population of vaccine-willing individuals before reaching herd immunity. At such a time, health communication could become vital in the push towards eradication of the pandemic. Below, we suggest strategies for using music, drama and animations as health communication approaches for promoting COVID-19 vaccinations.