A SILENT SUCCESS STORY IS A FAILURE OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION.A SILENT SUCCESS STORY IS A FAILURE OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION.

It's US Immunisation Awareness Month.

As a researcher, parent, and science communicator, I ask: is there anything we can learn from the imbalance between vaccines and antibiotic use? What shapes our attitudes to protection and treatment? How do we reclaim the vaccine narrative? It’s time to connect science back to patient stories.

Why measles might be the canary we shouldn’t ignore

Measles outbreaks have been described as a "canary in the coal mine" signalling an under-resourced health system and offering an early warning of looming public health risks.¹ Traditionally, we associate this with a lack of resources: not enough vaccines, medication, or healthcare professionals. But in resource-rich countries, it’s also a science communication problem.

For decades, vaccines have made the diseases they prevent almost invisible, and we’ve let vaccines become a silent success story. As science communicators, we often try to bring data alive by using the patient story. But in the case of vaccines, that story was forgotten and reduced to a checklist of required jabs.²

In that vacuum, the public focus drifted towards misinformation, rare side effects, and mistrust of mandates. As science communicators, how do we reclaim the vaccine narrative?

It’s National Immunisation Awareness Month – how can we contribute?

To be a part of Immunisation Awareness Month while living in the US, I feel I should be recommending that everyone check they’re up to date with vaccines. I had a vaccine myself this month, so I could’ve posted a photo of my arm, badge-of-honour style, for doing my part for herd immunity. Or I could have shared the recently published statistic that COVID-19 vaccines saved at least 2,500,000 lives, or possibly much more, depending on the model.^3,4

But do recommendations, modelling behaviour, or spouting stats really help? US vaccination rates in infants declined during or after the height of the healthcare disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic compared with those born in previous years.⁵

A public health paradox: underusing vaccines, overusing antibiotics

With my background in antibiotic resistance research, I’m confronted by a perplexing contradiction: why are vaccines undervalued when antibiotics are often overused? Both tools are designed to protect against infectious disease, but how we use them reveals something deeper: a trust gap between preventative public health and individual health fixes.

For example, influenza vaccine uptake in US adults sits below 50%.⁶ Yet antibiotics are frequently and inappropriately prescribed: one study showed one in five antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate, and another report suggests up to 7% of adult flu cases were treated with antibiotics.^7,8

In both cases, imbalance threatens effectiveness. We risk losing herd immunity through under-vaccination and accelerating antibiotic resistance through overuse. How do we rebalance our attitudes to protection and treatment?

Knee pads, plasters, and ice hockey: a parent’s analogy

As a parent, you’re quick to hand over a plaster (or Band-Aid) for any scraped knee, no matter how small. But what if it were your last bandage, and the shops weren’t making any more? That’s like antibiotic overuse and the risk of running out of effective options.

Now imagine knee pads for your toddler. You probably wouldn’t bother with them just for a walk in the park, but what if they were so light and comfortable your child didn’t even notice them? That’s what vaccines can be: effective protection, barely felt.

Of course, people will still doubt that there are no new bandages or ask whether the knee guards really work or if the trip hazard is all that bad. But throw that same child into an ice hockey match, and suddenly you’re strapping on every piece of protective gear you can find and saving your first aid kit for serious injury.

So perhaps our attitudes towards vaccines and antibiotics are driven by lived or shared experiences and our perceived choice in the matter.

Reframing the canary

In mining, canaries have been replaced by electronic gas detectors. But a gas detector can’t elicit the same visceral reaction as a living creature collapsing before your eyes. A canary wasn’t a PSA about workplace risk, it was a personal warning: immediate, emotional, undeniable.

A recent publication argued that we need a paradigm shift in science communication away from top-down data dissemination, towards participatory, inclusive models.⁹ Building scientific understanding within communities, with patient stories at the centre, could allow something powerful. Let the measles outbreak once again act as a canary in the coal mine: not just a warning of public health system failure, but a prompt for individual action.

So, what now?

Unnecessary, preventable deaths are immensely sad and must be avoided. We can’t let polio, mumps, rubella, and other vaccine-preventable diseases return. So let’s take the opportunity — as healthcare professionals, scientists, and communicators — to reframe the conversation around public experience and choice.

Now is the time for the public to remind each other of what vaccines prevent.

Now is the time to connect science to stories of lives saved, outbreaks stopped, suffering avoided.

Now is the time to build public memory of a choice made to protect that lasts longer than the current measles outbreak.

By Dr Hannah Jedrey

References

1. World Health Organization. Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2020. Available online: www.who.int/publications/m/item/immunization-agenda-2030-a-global-strategy-to-leave-no-one-behind. [Accessed August 2025]  
2. Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule by Age. Available online: www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/imz-schedules/child-adolescent-age.html. [Accessed August 2025]
3. Ioannidis JPA, et al. Global Estimates of Lives and Life-Years Saved by COVID-19 Vaccination During 2020-2024. JAMA Health Forum. 2025; 6(7): e252223.
4. Watson OJ, et al. Global impact of the first year of COVID-19 vaccination: a mathematical modelling study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022; 22(9): 1293–1302. Erratum in: Lancet Infect Dis. 2023; 23(10): e400.
5. Hill HA, et al. Decline in Vaccination Coverage by Age 24 Months and Vaccination Inequities Among Children Born in 2020 and 2021 - National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2021-2023. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024; 73(38): 844–853.
6. Flu Vaccination Coverage, United States, 2023–24 Influenza Season. Available online: www.cdc.gov/fluvaxview/coverage-by-season/2023-2024.html. [Accessed August 2025]
7. Chua KP, Linder JA. Prevalence of Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescribing by Antibiotic Among Privately and Publicly Insured Non-Elderly US Patients, 2018. J Gen Intern Med. 2021; 36(9): 2861–2864.
8. Pew research report: Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescribing Leads to Increased Costs Complications. Available online: www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2023/inappropriate-antibiotic-prescribing-leads-to-increased-costs-complications. [Accessed August 2025]
9. Druckman JN, et al. An agenda for science communication research and practice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025; 122(27): e2400932122.