Scientists create guide to building truth ‘sandwich’ to combat Covid misinformation

Truth sandwich can help people ‘challenge and debunk misinformation in a positive, constructive manner’, says scientist

A nurse prepares a syringe with the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine for a worker of the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (REUTERS)

In a bid to fight against misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines, a group of scientists from all over the world have created an online guide to building a ‘truth sandwich’.

The guide serves to arm people with practical tips, up-to-date information and evidence to talk reliably about the vaccines, and enable them to constructively challenge associated myths.

The scientists, led by the University of Bristol, are appealing to everyone to understand the facts set out in the Covid-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook, follow the guidance and spread the word.

Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, the lead author of the guide, said: “Vaccines are our ticket to freedom and communication about them should be our passport to getting everyone on board.

“The way all of us refer to and discuss the Covid-19 vaccines can literally help win the battle against this devastating virus by tackling misinformation and improving uptake, which is crucial.

“That’s why we produced this handbook so everyone has the basics, as well as more comprehensive information, at their fingertips and can do their part in sharing facts, not fiction, to put us on the road to recovery rather than a path of further suffering.”

The handbook includes topics such as public behaviour and attitudes, policy, facts, and misinformation. It also highlights how the vaccines are overwhelmingly safe and effective.

Prof Lewandowsky urged people to “challenge and debunk misinformation in a positive, constructive manner” by building a “truth sandwich”.

The idea behind a “truth sandwich” was coined by Professor George Lakoff of the University of California, Berkeley. It involves stating what is true, reporting that a false claim has been made about that truth, and repeating what is actually true.

This “sandwiches” a dubious claim between accurate statements to ensure the falsehood is neither the first nor last impression in a communication.

To deliver a coronavirus vaccine truth sandwich, Prof Lewandowsky recommends starting with the key facts, “including that the vaccines have been shown to be 95 per cent effective and have been comprehensively tested without cutting any corners”.

“Then address the misinformation. For instance, if people say the vaccine can’t have been tested properly because it was developed so quickly, explain why this isn’t the case.

“Given the severity of the pandemic, more resource and expertise than ever were dedicated to this effort. Due to its high profile, volunteers for the trials were recruited much faster than usual.

“The Ebola vaccine effectively took 10 months from initial testing to trials in the field, so this has been done before,” he continued. “Then finally reiterate the facts so they stay fresh mind.”

Co-author Professor Adam Finn, also from the University of Bristol, said the initiative was vital as accurate information about vaccines is becoming increasingly harder to distinguish from “convincing but misleading fiction”.

Prof Finn, who played a key role in the developments of the Covid-19 vaccines, said misinformation disguised as truths “reduces uptake” of the jabs and “harms us all”.

“Although vaccines enjoy majority support that politicians can only dream of, we can no longer take this for granted,” he warned. “It’s time to take the initiative in ensuring people are not duped into making wrong decisions that harm them, their children and their communities.”

Professor Julie Leask, a social scientist from the University of Sydney and chair of one of the World Health Organisation’s working groups of vaccination, added: “The safest and most effective against Covid-19 are of no use if people cannot, or will not, take them.

“This handbook comes at a crucial time - when people around the world are deciding whether or not they will accept a Covid-19 vaccine. More than ever, we need to be communicating effectively and the handbook brings the science of communication to the communicators.”

In December, the UN Secretary General warned that Covid misinformation is a “shadow pandemic” that puts “health and lives… at risk”.

During a UN web summit, Antonio Guterres suggested that conspiracy theories being shared on social media “threaten to reduce the uptake and effectiveness of vaccines that become available”.