MHM Magazine

decision making, not yours • Particular strategies to build trust and facilitate patient involvement in the relationship can include encouragement, joint agenda setting, and nonverbal behaviours conveying empathy and warmth • Uncertainty is particularly relevant in the context of COVID-19 vaccination, because vaccines are still relatively new and there are some unpredictable side effects. Evidence about COVID-19 disease itself and its serious complications (including long COVID-19) continually increases and improves. Stay up to date with evidence around the disease itself, as well as vaccine efficacy, side effects, and current scientific controversies or debates. Reputable journals like NEJM, JAMA and Lancet have dedicated COVID-19 resource centres with excellent reviews, podcasts, and even tailored information for patients. Useful websites include the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) , the WHO (www.who.int) , and the NICD (www.nicd.ac.za ) • Mis/disinformation is a moving target. Stay up to date with South African vaccine mis/disinformation themes and trends so you’re prepared. The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change publishes a weekly vaccine mis/disinformation report that summarises social media conversation themes in the country (www.cabc.org.za) Lastly, don’t forget to start the conversation with colleagues; we can learn collectively from our successes and failures and be- come better vaccine advocates. References available on request. Dr Juno Thomas is Head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases. Her areas of expertise include communicable disease epidemiology, surveillance, and outbreak response. She leads the centre activities, which include syndromic and laboratory-based surveillance for priority enteric bacterial and viral pathogens. Dr Thomas oversees and actively participates in the food- and water-borne disease outbreak investigation and response activities of the centre, providing key epidemiological and laboratory support to the South African National Department of Health. She teaches and trains health professionals and health officials and supervises postgraduate students. 2 | MENTALHEALTHMATTERS | Issue 5 | 2021 MHM visit our website www.ihpublishing.co.za