Shaking Off the Pandemic to Embrace the Future of Healthcare Communications

What do Taylor Swift and the COVID-19 pandemic have in common? More than you might think. As Swift’s tour winds its way across the U.S. this spring and summer, I’ve found myself reflecting on that question, especially now that both the World Health Organization and the U.S. federal government have determined that the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a health emergency.

After more than three years, it’s time to make 2023 the year we truly shake off the pandemic. As we do that, it’s critical to not lose sight of the fact that the legacy of the pandemic on public health is both positive and negative. We as healthcare communicators can incorporate these learnings into our work as we provide counsel to our clients and serve one of their key interfaces with the public.

One of the most unequivocally positive things to emerge from the pandemic was the successful use of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology for COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna delivered true miracles of modern medicine, developing and manufacturing vaccines in record time and bringing them to hundreds of millions of people worldwide to provide powerful protection against severe disease and death.

That success has led to the acceleration of the clinical development of mRNA-based personalized vaccines for cancer, for which new data will be presented at the upcoming 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. These investigational vaccines are currently being evaluated in ongoing or planned clinical trials in melanoma, pancreatic cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.

In oncology, one exciting development in mRNA vaccine technology is its exploration in treating pancreatic cancer, among the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer. In particular, highly promising results from a landmark study of a personalized mRNA vaccine produced in part by scientists at BioNTech and tailored to each patient’s tumor were published this month in Nature. Although the study was small, patients who responded to the vaccine did not show any signs of relapse during 18 months of follow-up – a significant difference compared with patients who did not receive the vaccine.

During the pandemic, mRNA became a household word, with the public largely able to understand the complex scientific concept underpinning this technology. The reason? Effective communications by healthcare communicators in industry, government and academia.

On the other hand, however, we also saw wide polarization, with mRNA vaccines and other interventions – some proven to be effective, others not – becoming a lightning rod for rampant misinformation and disinformation, fueled by social media.

The pandemic taught us that the stakes are high – misinformation and disinformation can actually endanger lives. Rigorous data showed vaccine hesitancy caused unnecessary deaths.

As healthcare communicators, we learned that we need to rapidly respond with direct, specific and easily understandable information. We need to provide easily digestible facts so all members of the public can understand important science, with mRNA technology as just one example.

With ASCO just around the corner, effective communication of science and data could not be more important. More than 40,000 oncology professionals from around the world will convene in Chicago and online to share the latest science being pursued to tackle huge remaining needs in cancer. Researchers will share new clinical data on innovative and ground-breaking treatments that have been shown to – or that have the potential to – improve outcomes and quality of life among people with cancer, and even lead to cures.

Healthcare communicators are pivotal in sharing data from ASCO with a non-expert audience and reaching patients who could benefit. We understand it’s imperative to use plain language to simplify the science and make it easily understandable and accessible. We know how to effectively use storytelling that puts patients at the center. And at Real Chemistry, we know which reporters, media outlets and channels to target, and we have the relationships and expertise to move the needle.

As we leave the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, we should turn a page on the polarization that happened with mRNA vaccines. We can use the learnings from the pandemic and the tools at hand to address healthcare misinformation and disinformation to help the public better understand the promise of all the amazing science that is under way and that promises to create a brighter and healthier future for us all.

To learn more about how Real Chemistry can provide communications support for your company or medicines, please reach out to epoe@realchemistry.com. If you will be at ASCO 2023 in Chicago, we can set up a meeting.