Giving Compass' Take:

• This post from The Conversation lays out three strategies to help battle misperceptions over the flu vaccine: Educate people on the facts, bust myths and encourage reciprocity.

• How might funders in the health space spread greater awareness over the importance of vaccination in general? 

• Here's why funding vaccines can help reduce our antibiotic dependence.

Many Americans hold beliefs about the flu vaccine that are at odds with the best available scientific evidence. For example, a recent study found that more than two-fifths, or 43 percent, of Americans believe that the seasonal flu vaccine can give us the flu. Scientific research strongly suggests that this is not true. Because most modern flu shots do not contain a live virus, the shot itself simply cannot get us sick with the flu.

Widespread misinformation about flu vaccine safety is an important public health problem, because people who believe that the flu vaccine can make us sick may be less likely to vaccinate themselves. In 2017, and in every flu cycle since 2010, less than half of American adults chose to vaccinate themselves against the flu.

Low flu vaccine uptake is especially concerning this year. Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates suggest that the most recent flu cycle was one of the deadliest ever — as nearly 80,000Americans died from the flu and flu-related complications in 2017. That’s more than double the number of Americans who die in traffic collisions, in a typical year.

Consequently, figuring out how public health professionals can most effectively combat misinformation about the flu vaccine is a critically important question for public health research.

Read the full article about countering flu vaccine myths by Kathryn Haglin, Dominik Stecula and Matthew Motta at The Conversation.