key: cord-0987755-d3umunj4
authors: Shimizu, Kazuki; Shibuya, Kenji; Tokuda, Yasuharu
title: COVID‐19 infodemic about nucleic acid amplification tests in Japan
date: 2021-10-27
journal: J Gen Fam Med
DOI: 10.1002/jgf2.504
sha: 148eab7656e755a69269bca6f7faa2a946ae8212
doc_id: 987755
cord_uid: d3umunj4

nan

The issues on vaccine-associated mis/disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of resolving our current infodemic. In Japan, a lack of capacity in emergency risk communication was already identified as a major issue prior to the current pandemic. 1 This had resulted in another challenge in early to mid-2020: an infodemic regarding nucleic acid amplification tests.

The governmental COVID-19 experts proactively employed a so-called "cluster-based" approach in February 2020 to suppress COVID-19 transmission by mainly focusing on clusters of major symptomatic cases and their close contacts. 2 While to what extent this approach helped contain and mitigate COVID-19 transmission

has not yet been evaluated, there was a major concern with this approach in terms of lack of scientifically solid evidence and the presence of asymptomatic infections and airborne transmission. During the past decade, challenges in health communication have repeatedly occurred in Japan, such as the misinformation after the Fukushima disaster 11 and the overall low confidence level toward vaccines. 12 The COVID-19 pandemic not only exposed these long-standing challenges, but explicitly suggested that the government and some healthcare professionals might have also played a central role in promulgating misinformation and may be a driver of the infodemic in Japan.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 infodemic about nucleic acid amplification tests in Japan resulted from a series of issues embedded in the country's sociopolitical and structural systems, warranting immediate reform. To improve pandemic response efficiency and public health outcomes, Japanese scientists need to adopt a greater level of independence from political and governmental pressures.

Revamping scientific journalism and training systems for healthcare professionals to emphasize the importance of their positions in both interprofessional and trans-professional contexts will be pivotal to

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