When it comes to addressing Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, public health campaigns fall down on the job.
I'll focus on one example. It's an article published at the University of Michigan Health website, titled "Who has the right to ask if you're vaccinated?" (url at <https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/who-has-a-right-to-ask-if-youre-vaccinated>, accessed May 9, 2021). It sets out to expose what it calls the "false controversy" about "covid passports." Covid passports refer to the idea that businesses and certain government services, such as schools, should have the authority to require their patrons and charges to prove they have have been vaccinated against covid-19. Presumably, one way to facilitate that would be to issue documents, or "passports," that the vaccinated can show to gain entry.
The arguments the article makes seem designed to convince no one. They make a caricature of the objections that people may have about covid passports and about the covid vaccines generally. In doing so, they represent the way that public health campaigns often fail to promote public health.
