Written by Behtash Bahador, MS
As COVID-19 vaccinations are rolled out, some people still have questions and concerns about the safety of the vaccines. How were they made so fast? How do we know they work and are safe? Were they studied in a diverse group of people?
To help address these questions, CISCRP developed an infographic: “The Facts About COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials.” The overall goal of this piece is to provide engaging educational content to people who may still be deciding if they or their family will get vaccinated.
To complete the project, we brought together a team with years of experience sharing clear, unbiased, nonpromotional messaging about clinical trials. To create the infographic, we reviewed news and information from trustworthy sources. These included national and global health organizations, universities, and peer-reviewed publications. This helped us learn what people still want to understand about the COVID-19 vaccine trials, and what else they may need to know.
Then, the hard work began: we had to decide which topics and messages would be covered in the limited space of an infographic, and how. In the end, the main take-aways we aimed to provide are:
- Teamwork and years of knowledge and experience allowed the vaccines to be made quickly.
- Trials have shown the available vaccines are safe and effective.
- The vaccines will continue to be studied and monitored for safety.
- The COVID-19 vaccine trials included more diverse participants than many other trials.
- There was diversity among the many professionals involved in vaccine development.
As with all of our health communications, we received feedback from an editorial panel of patients, advocates, health professionals and members of the public. This was an essential step to make sure the infographic is clear, is not missing important information, and is not misleading in any way. We hope that the end result is an informative, easy-to-understand snapshot of some key elements of the vaccine development and rollout.
The full infographic can be viewed on this page in CISCRP’s Education Center. The page also includes the sources used to create the infographic and additional links to useful educational content.
