How to tackle the ‘nocebo effect’ in a world of vaccine hesitancy
Is there a fix for the unhappy flipside of the placebo effect?
Last year, a close acquaintance was putting off their COVID-19 vaccine because they were worried about side effects.
But the concern wasn’t about anaphylaxis, myocarditis or thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome.
They were really stressed about the prospect of not going to the gym for a couple of days if they experienced flu-like adverse events.
Eventually, they did get vaccinated. And indeed, went on to experience some nasty, short-lived side effects that kept them out of the gym for two days.
