Josh Sharfstein, ICEID 2022: Communicating science to the public and to policymakers during a pandemic

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has provided new insight into the importance of communicating science to the public and policymakers, health equity issues, and the global aspects of a pandemic. In this interview, Dr John Sharfstein (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA) discusses the importance of effective science communication and its challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

‘Communicating Science to the Public and to Policy Makers during a Pandemic’ was presented at the annual International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID), August 7–10, 2022.

Questions:

1. What are the key concepts of effective science communication? (00:12)
2. What have been the major challenges in communicating science to the public and policy makers during the COVID-19 pandemic? (00:40)
3. What are the consequences of failures of communication? (01:30)
4. Could you provide some examples of successes and failure of communication during the COVID-19 pandemic? (02:04)
5. In terms of communication, what lessons have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic? (03:10)

Disclosures:  John Sharfstein has nothing to disclose in relation to this video interview. 

Support: Interview and filming supported by Touch Medical Media. Interview conducted by Marianna Mignani. 

Filmed as a highlight of ICEID 2022.