In politics, you’re either on-message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Omicron Confusion.
Just before the holiday break the ongoing (and seemingly never-ending) pandemic took a shift from the Delta phase and we were introduced to a new villain, Omicron.
As news and the virus spread from South Africa across the world, health and political authorities were quick to determine and alert the public that, first, the new variant seemed to spread more easily than previous versions and that the vaccines were proving to be effective.
Some bad news, some good news.
Now, that was a bit of a shift for many people who were vaccinated who thought that “being protected” from the virus meant they wouldn’t get it, while doctors had to help everyone grasp the fact that it actually protects you from the worst symptoms – like hospitalization and death.
President Biden was pretty effective in his Omicron communication, driving the message that vaccinated and boosted Americans should enjoy their holidays with fellow vaccinated and boosted family and friends, while warning that non-vaccinated Americans should expect to get and feel the real impact of Omicron at some point.
And that’s just the type of messaging that’s been missing.
By now, it’s clear the virus mutates and the science evolves. What’s surprising is how slowly the messaging typically follow suit. In many ways, public officials and the media are still missing the mark and failing to drive home the most important message.
Headlines related to Omicron quickly default to the total number of new cases. That’s the total number of confirmed cases – so it’s misleading right off the bat. But it also fails to provide the key statistic to influence public behavior.
If the goal is to prevent people from dying or having the hospitals operating at or above capacity, the objective is to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Pretty straightforward.
Unfortunately, Biden’s vaccination mandates shifted the argument to a legal one, when the data to drive public opinion is so readily at hand.
Instead of the number of new cases, Omicron headlines should focus on the number people hospitalized and the number of deaths – and most importantly, the percentage of each of those who are unvaccinated.
Show the public, every single day, how many people are going to the hospital and how many die needlessly, because they have opted not to take a vaccine available at essentially every grocery store pharmacy in our state. **That is the/ most/ effective/ way to make it clear that vaccinated people have greater protection and that the odds are stacked heavily against the anti-vax crowd.
That’s it for this week.
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