SUMMARY: Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high. Even if humoral immunity appears to wane, reductions in neutralizing antibody titre do not necessarily predict reductions in vaccine efficacy over time, and reductions in vaccine efficacy against mild disease do not necessarily predict reductions in the (typically higher) efficacy against severe disease. Source: The Lancet
Category Archive: Health information online
SUMMARY: Falsehoods have been shown to spread faster and farther than accurate information, and research suggests that misinformation can have negative effects in the real world, such as amplifying controversy about vaccines and propagating unproven cancer treatments. Therefore, health misinformation on social media urgently requires greater action from those working in public health research and practice. (Source: US Library of Medicine) There is a huge opportunity to help online health seekers cut through health misinformation.
SUMMARY:
- The states struggling the most with covid-19 infections also have the least healthy populations.
- About two out of five American adults are obese, according to the CDC. Mostly because they don’t understand how what they eat effects their health.
- Only 23% of people get enough exercise and only one in ten eats enough fruit and vegetables, says the CDC.
- Less than half of Americans are proficient readers, and only 12% are considered by the country’s health department to be “health-literate”.
- Over one-third struggle with basic health tasks, such as following prescription-drug directions.
SUMMARY:
- People are going online more and more to sarch for health information after seeing a DTC pharma TV spot.
- Pharma websites are not consdiered a top resource for infromation on new products.
- Cost is not that big of an issue for people who have health insurance.
- It’s more about weighing the benefit against the potential side effects.
- TV spots are the number one way people learn about new pharma products.
SUMMARY:
- Even though the Delta variant of COVID is highly contagious, people are still choosing not to get vaccinated.
- Concerns about safety, fear of unknown side effects, and misinformation about COVID-19 are some reasons why people may not accept the vaccine.
- Social media has a lot of health misinformation bet they alone can’t be blamed.
- The media stories about the FDA. CDC and new drugs have fostered an era of mistrust with some people.
- DTC marketers need to be more forthcoming when it comes to drug trials and side effects.
SUMMARY:
- Online health seeker numbers are still very high, indicating that people are doing their research first before asking for a prescription drug.
- Online health seekers trust pharma products but find product websites hard to read and inconsistent with their needs.
- Telehealth numbers are dropping rapidly, but people still want to use telehealth to ask for Rx renewals and ask general questions.
- By far, people over 50 are the biggest segment of online health seekers.
WTF? The Washington Post reported last year that health and pharmaceutical companies spent almost $1 billion on just Facebook mobile ads in 2019. A complete waste of money, time and effort.
TEASER: What DTC marketers and consumers do as the result of seeing a relevant DTC ad differs by a wide margin. DTC marketers would like to think that patients ask for the advertised drug when visiting their doctor, but that’s largely untrue.