Nurses Promoting COVID Misinformation

[Tigerlily8]

I am aware of a former colleague (RN) who is frequently posting inaccurate information on Twitter. She is discouraging social distancing, wearing masks and mandatory vaccination. She recently has been promoting the use of unproven medications to treat Covid-19 and states the pandemic is a hoax. This behavior reflects poorly on all health care providers, especially nurses. I don’t know what I could do other than reporting her to the Texas BON. Any ideas?

[MunoRN, RN]

9 minutes ago, Gooday said:

I don't think so, the adult vaccination rate in the US was 66% a couple of weeks ago,  the over 65 vaccination rate is 83%.   There are a few hold outs, but most of the people who need to be vaccinated as of this week 77% are vaccinated.   Most of the holdouts are people who have real concerns.  Only 9% of Americans are antivaxxers,  that means they are against all vaccines. another 7% are borderline.   The percentage of hold outs from the Covid vaccine is minimal so these dooms day predictions need to stop.   Im a veteran, so I have probably had more vaccines than anyone on this forum yet immature people make rude comments about people who have concerns about being vaccinated and call them anti-vaxxers,  old fashioned abusive gaslighting.   This whole debate started because I said some people have real concerns,  I held out because I tend to experience side effects from everything not because I'm against anything, I eventually got it because at my age the risk of getting Covid is high. Not one of the angry abusive comments offered a solution.  You could have said," if you have bad reactions to vaccines have your doctor go over the ingredients in the vaccine and do a allergy test see if you are allergic to anything those ingredients.   I would wager that many of the hold outs have had similar problems in the pass and that's why they are waiting.   I had a patient who was refusing a treatment that was really needed,  this was back when nurses where in your face.  One of the nurses would tell the patient off to try and get her too cooperate, she was an old school RN and she would scream at everyone, CNA's, LVNs,  patients, family members everyone.   It just made that patient more stubborn.  Older people don't like people trying to tell them off or manipulate them. That patient would yell at everyone, I started laughing with the patient and joking, and explained everything,  the patient responded and we got it done.  I have had quite a few patients like that, its a common problem working with seniors.  We forget that as nurses one of our jobs is community nursing,  those hold outs are part of the community, even the nursing community are our patients.  We address their concerns and honor their choices.   We love honor and serve them to get them to trust our medical judgement,  gaslighting and abuse makes enemies and causes more division and more hold outs.   We are not the masters of our community, we are servants, we convince people by gaining their trust,  we do not force them or threaten them or mock. Autonomy is everyone's right period.  That screaming charge nurse got fired for screaming at everyone.  

You said people had "real concerns" then used misinformation to explain those "real concerns".

When someone points out that someone is sharing misinformation that isn't "abuse", claiming that it's abuse is feigning victimization, a standard component of gaslighting others.

[Gooday]

6 hours ago, MunoRN said:

What you said was that the science of vaccination was in doubt because "A lot of people keep making matter-of-fact statements about this vaccine.

Again I did not say anything about the science being in doubt. I said we don't have any long-term data about the vaccine which is a legitimate concern and is why I held out and is why some others may be holding out and I would not insult or talk down to people because they have concerns.  Gaslighting is  trying to make people feel like their legitimate concerns are not valid or real through insults and mockery.  

[Gooday]

7 minutes ago, MunoRN said:

You said people had "real concerns" then used misinformation to explain those "real concerns"

Post my misinformation, there are no long-term studies, it has not been around long enough to have any.   I took the vaccine after I saw that in the short term there were no major problems with adverse reactions or side effects.  I have already taken it so hopefully the long-term outcomes will be just as positive.   

[toomuchbaloney]

35 minutes ago, Gooday said:

This whole debate started because I said some people have real concerns,  I held out because I tend to experience side effects from everything not because I'm against anything, I eventually got it because at my age the risk of getting Covid is high. Not one of the angry abusive comments offered a solution. 

There's no debate over your personal choice to hesitate or to finally vaccinate.  I'll celebrate your decision to vaccinate with you. 

The problem is not that choices, it's why you want to validate and elevate vaccine hesitation with the added credibility of a health professional who agrees, in these threads.  We all know what the common excuses and justifications for delaying vaccination include.  You aren't informing us as much as you are lending trustworthiness to the vaccine  fears on a public forum.  The only thing abused here is that type messaging. 

[toomuchbaloney]

19 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Post my misinformation, there are no long-term studies, it has not been around long enough to have any.   I took the vaccine after I saw that in the short term there were no major problems with adverse reactions or side effects.  I have already taken it so hopefully the long-term outcomes will be just as positive.   

The entire concept that there could possibly be long term side effects to vaccination is a portion of the misinformation and fear mongering.  

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

19 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Post my misinformation, there are no long-term studies, it has not been around long enough to have any.   I took the vaccine after I saw that in the short term there were no major problems with adverse reactions or side effects.  I have already taken it so hopefully the long-term outcomes will be just as positive.   

Can you show us any vaccine that has demonstrated late occurring  long term sequelae?

[Gooday]

1 hour ago, toomuchbaloney said:

The problem is not that choices, it's why you want to validate and elevate vaccine hesitation with the added credibility of a health professional who agrees, in these threads.  We all know what the common excuses and justifications for delaying vaccination include.  You aren't informing us as much as you are lending trustworthiness to the vaccine  fears on a public forum.  The only thing abused here is that type messaging. 

 I did not validate or elevate anything.  I voiced my concerns which are legitimate concerns.  People who share their concerns usually share them because they have them and want to know if others have the same concerns.  I did not share my concerns on social media, but if I had wanted to share my concerns it would have been my right.  Not one statement made by me was misinformation.  Your not being therapeutic in your approach to my concerns. You should have repeated my concerns and engaged in patient teaching.  You should have acknowledged the truthfulness of my statement about there not being a long-term study because the statement is truthful, you should have told me about the short-term data that is now available and patient outcomes.   Millions have successfully taken the vaccine without any adverse affects. You should have shared with me the number of successful immunizations and the number of adverse reactions.  Then I could have weighed my concerns against the value of the treatment.   I looked at the data, I did not allow myself to be bullied into making a decision I was not comfortable with. I looked at all the data from all the sides. I was not afraid of data, in favor of or against Covid.  As a DSD cert nurse you learn to use data and positive influence to change opinions, you acknowledge concerns.  All I'm saying is that people should not be demonized for sharing positive or negative data about Covid. When a patient is diagnosed with cancer you don't try to force them to except a course of treatment's through name calling and labeling. You share the outcome data from both treatments and you let them chose.  Suddenly anything negative about Covid cannot be shared even if it is true.  On every immunization or medication box the manufactures share negatives and positives, they share data and let you decide. Which is what should happen,  all of a sudden if you share any of that info your sharing misinformation.   The data is never misinformation.  If we did more of that instead of telling people their real concerns are not valid we would get even more people immunized.  I shared with some of my circle how millions have gotten the vaccine without adverse side effects, I acknowledged concerns.  That convinced some of my circle.  Data, data, data.  In the nursing process its called informed consent. Share all information, the good and the bad  and let the patient make a decision.   Bullying never works,  it just leads to civil war. In Houston hundreds of nurses quit because they were being bullied, their concerns where not addressed. I would have made vaccination an event, put up a giant graph every time a million people got vaccinated without an adverse reaction, I would have acknowledged legitimate concerns and focused on the positive data, I would have given out coffee mugs, and I'm protected buttons, clapped every time someone with a button walked in the room and shared ICU and ER data across the country and patient outcomes the info that convinced me. Everyone would have already been vaccinated before the mandate ever happen and no one would have gotten fired. What happened there was an example of poor management.   Our society has started using name calling and labeling as the default setting, that's why our government cant fix anything anymore. 

[toomuchbaloney]

No they aren't legitimate.  They are fears that are based in misinformation. 

[Gooday]

3 hours ago, subee said:

Can you show us any vaccine that has demonstrated late occurring  long term sequelae?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114674/  A basic search of government websites will provide examples.  

[Gooday]

3 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

The entire concept that there could possibly be long term side effects to vaccination is a portion of the misinformation and fear mongering.  

https://www.uab.edu/reporter/resources/be-healthy/item/9544-what-are-the-long-term-side-effects-of-covid-vaccines-3-things-to-know

Here is an exhaustive study that outlines side effects that have been noted with the covid vaccine and the benefits of getting the vaccine.  This article is pure Science, not politics, people bashing, or any of that stuff, just honest science.  This is the kind of article that convinced me to get the shot.  Informed consent.  I studied and weighed my options.  Any time you make matter-of-fact statements about any medication or vaccine you are lying.  Every medication or vaccine comes with a package insert that tells the risk and benefits, I have never seen one that has none.  They are minimal with covid but they are there and patients should be taught those risks.   

[toomuchbaloney]

45 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Any time you make matter-of-fact statements about any medication or vaccine you are lying.

That's a joke, right?

[toomuchbaloney]

48 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Every medication or vaccine comes with a package insert that tells the risk and benefits, I have never seen one that has none.  They are minimal with covid but they are there and patients should be taught those risks.

All of us are aware of those expected or possible side effects. No one claims that vaccines are risk free.  Patients are provided the necessary information and their questions are answered.  What is the problem, specifically?