New reporting toolkit helps journalists understand vaccines

A new toolkit aimed at helping journalists navigate coverage of vaccines was released Tuesday as massive changes in federal and state policy loom amid rampant misinformation and disinformation about the topic.

SciLine, a nonprofit providing free resources to journalists with the goal of incorporating more evidence-based research and scientific expertise into news coverage, developed the toolkit as part of a broader initiative on vaccines and public health that will include free training for journalists and scientists, and on-deadline assistance with expert sourcing for reporters.

Over the past year, outbreaks of measles and whooping cough — infectious diseases that are now very rare in the U.S., thanks to the development and adoption of vaccines — have re-emerged.

Now, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is leading an effort to ignore decades of scientific research and upend government policy on vaccines that research has guided. Misinformation and disinformation about their development, effectiveness, and safety are coming from the highest levels of government. Leaders and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies who are pushing back against false information about the research behind vaccines have been fired, and numerous others have resigned in protest. And some states are moving even faster—Florida, for example, is moving to end all requirements that public school students be vaccinated.

Local journalists will have one of the biggest roles in shaping public understanding of the issue as it is debated in the coming weeks. Research has shown that people who understand how scientific research works are less susceptible to misinformation and pseudoscience.

SciLine’s Vaccine Reporting Toolkit is a comprehensive reference for journalists on the development, effectiveness and safety of vaccines; the most common misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines and what’s behind them; cultural and religious hesitancy about vaccines; and how subtle mistakes and missing context in past reporting, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, can harm public understanding of the issue.

SciLine’s team of journalists and scientists helps newsrooms in all 50 states access, understand, and incorporate evidence-based research and scientific expertise into their work. Its goal is to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of reporting and to build trust with audiences by stepping back from political back-and-forth and providing crucial information and context that is backed by scientific research.

In addition to publishing resources such as the Vaccine Reporting Toolkit, SciLine’s free Expert Matching service connects reporters, on deadline, with scientific experts on a wide variety of topics. SciLine holds media briefings with scientists on timely topics, hosts broadcast interview opportunities with scientists for local TV and radio stations, trains journalists on how to access and understand scientific research, and trains scientists on how to effectively communicate with the media about their work.

Founded in 2017 and based at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, SciLine is philanthropically funded. Its work is made possible through support from the Quadrivium Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, MAC3 Impact Philanthropies, The Eucalyptus Foundation, New Venture Fund, the Simons Foundation, Daniel Pinkel, the Zakaria Family Foundation, the Leo Model Foundation, and individual donations.