Tam: Inoculating the public from misinformation is just as important as a vaccine
By: Hannah Rivkin
Tags: Theresa Tam, Journalism In Crisis, Day 1, Covid 19, Public Health

By Hannah Rivkin

Dr. Theresa Tam began her keynote address at the Journalism in the Time of Crisis conference on Thursday by repeating a line she’s used many times before.

“Effective communication on public health advice is as important as a vaccine — I’ve always said that.”

Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer since 2017, has become the public face of the federal government’s efforts to contain COVID-19 and coordinate its pandemic response with the country’s provinces.

She is a physician with expertise in immunization, infectious disease, emergency preparedness and global health security. And while she has become a national figure for her near-daily media appearances and pandemic briefings for reporters, Tam has very rarely spoken at any length about her own views on the role of the media during the crisis.

She spoke about the challenges she and her team have faced during the COVID-19 crisis to clearly and consistently communicate with Canadians.

“Since the pandemic started, every minute of the day you see one of us . . . on TV and on the media,” said Tam, adding that in her estimation, she’s personally done more than 100 press briefings since the pandemic began.

And for Tam, it isn’t just about what is said in front of the nation’s press.

Prompted by keynote moderator Josh Greenberg, the director of the School of Journalism and Communications at Carleton University, Tam acknowledged the persistent challenge posed by pandemic disinformation and unrelenting need throughout the months to counter false and misleading messages about the coronavirus.

What the general public is at risk of gravitating towards, Tam pointed out, is “information junk food,” — quick, easy-to-follow, entertaining assertions — a light term with potentially heavy consequences.

“Uncertainty is fertile grounds for people to provide conspiracy theories and other information injects that can have serious consequences,” said Tam.

At the same time, Canada’s top doctor also emphasized the need for public health officials to improve their communication strategies — even taking lessons from journalists. Tam praised the country’s press corps, saying she’s “learned a lot from great journalists and great communications experts.”

Another method for influencing Canadians with accurate and more persuasive health messaging, suggested Tam, would be to counter disinformation by employing some of the same tactics that those spreading bad science are using.

Gaining greater traction in this battle, argued Tam, will be as integral to combatting COVID-19 as any other public health measure, such as masks, distancing and a vaccine.

She said she knows Canadians are beginning to tire of the measures required to minimize the spread of the virus — and the messaging required to maintain public vigilance — but added that “public trust and confidence . . . is essential, so the media is an important part of what we do.”

Another challenge to face, she added, is that “everyone is an armchair epidemiologist . . . but the very nature of the pandemic is complex.” Tam explained that many decisions are not black and white, and that “it’s challenging to externalize some of these complexities.”

She pointed to the evolution of advice about wearing a non-medical mask — still a sticking point for many Canadians, despite growing evidence and case studies that indicate the effectiveness of face covering as a preventive measure.

Evidence isn’t always so concrete. “There’s not a huge amount of evidence, but you have to move within that context to provide advice,” Tam said.

Tam acknowledged that the way “science is playing out in real time in front of the TV” isn’t normal. Normally, there’s much more time once a study comes out for the scientific community to discuss the research issues and digest result. In the midst of the pandemic, though, that process is sped up exponentially.

“My predecessors didn’t have to deal with a pandemic in this internet age,” said Tam, who noted that personally she never really used social media. But now, she admitted, she and her team know this is a key way to engage with the public and inspire trust.

And that’s what all public health officials across Canada and around the world must be doing right now, she said.

Alluding again to the notion that reliable, effective information is as powerful as any other tool in the fight against COVID-19, Tam said “misinformation and disinformation travels faster than a virus in this day and age.”

Watch the whole keynote here.