Value-aligned messages increased COVID-19 vaccination intentions, study finds

Oregon State University

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COVID-19 vaccination clinic

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Credit: Theresa Hogue, Oregon State University

BEND, Ore. – Vaccine-hesitant adults were more likely to consider getting a COVID-19 vaccine when public health messages acknowledged distrust of government and affirmed values such as personal liberty, a new study found.

Researchers at Oregon State University-Cascades developed vaccination messages tailored to values commonly held by vaccine-hesitant individuals – those that delay accepting or refuse vaccinations despite them being available – and tested them in two online surveys involving 1,170 unvaccinated U.S. adults in spring 2021 as vaccines became widely available.

In the first survey, the proportion of participants who said they would get vaccinated as soon as possible after reading a message that acknowledged distrust of government increased by 16 percentage points. In the second survey, after hearing a message that affirmed the value of personal liberty, the proportion of participants who said they were more likely to get vaccinated increased by nearly 8 percentage points.

The study’s authors, Christopher Wolsko, an associate professor of psychology, and Elizabeth Marino, an associate professor of anthropology, emphasized that the approach is not about persuading people to take a specific action.

“We’re not saying this is a way to get people to take the vaccine, but it is a way to create the conditions for information to be heard and considered,” Wolsko said. “Our background research that led to this article indicates that the experience of distrust is often rooted in personal experiences – like feeling dismissed or discriminated against in a health care setting – rather than exposure to mis- or disinformation.”

Marino said that even a brief acknowledgement that people’s fears and feelings of distrust are valid can completely change the likelihood that the next part of a conversation will go well.

“Especially in today’s highly polarized social environment, we think people are constantly trying to determine whether someone poses a threat,” she said. “When you authentically reduce that threat, they become more open to considering new information.”

The study, published in PLOS One, supports a broader communication strategy that aligns messages with audience values. Marino and Wolsko say the approach applies beyond public health, including efforts to encourage safe firearm storage as a suicide prevention measure, conservation behaviors among climate change skeptics, and more inclusive attitudes toward rural individuals among urban centers of higher education – all areas they have studied.

For the COVID study, the researchers conducted focus groups with vaccine-hesitant adults in early 2021 and identified three recurring concerns for their hesitancy: distrust of institutions, concerns about personal liberty and freedom of choice and a desire to protect and reconnect with family.

From this analysis, they developed four messaging slogans:

• Government – “You don’t have to trust the government, here are the facts.”
• Families – “Everybody wants to get back to their families,” which affirmed people’s concerns about maintaining normal family life.
• Choice – “It’s your life, it’s your choice.”
• Liberty – “COVID and politicians: Don’t tread on me.”

They also developed a control message: “First, consider the following information about the COVID-19 vaccines from physicians at the Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

Participants were randomly assigned to view one of the value-based slogans in large, bold font or the control message before receiving one page of information from the Mayo Clinic and CDC about COVID-19 vaccines. Researchers measured individuals’ attitudes in a few different ways, including by asking them how likely it was that they would get vaccinated on a six-point scale, ranging from “I will definitely NOT get the vaccine” to “I am certain that I’ll get the vaccine.”

Findings included:

• In the first survey, 49.5% of participants in the control group said they would get the vaccine as soon as possible. That increased to 65.6% among participants who received the government slogan. Rates also increased among participants who received the families (58.1%) and choice (55.1%) slogans.  (The first survey did not include the liberty slogan.)
• In the second survey, 40.7% of participants in the control group indicated they would get the vaccine as soon as possible. That increased to 48.5% in the liberty slogan group and 45.2% in the government slogan group. Rates were lower among participants who received the families (39.4%) and choice (39%) slogans.

Marino and Wolsko, co-directors of the Laboratory for the American Conversation at OSU-Cascades, caution against viewing the approach as merely a tool of persuasion or manipulation. Their goal is to better understand the values and perceptions of risk that shape public attitudes and, in turn, improve public discourse.

“Our findings suggest that understanding and empathizing with the authentic experiences of vaccine-hesitant individuals can make communication around health policy less defensive, less volatile and more open to new information – for both sides of the issue,” Wolsko said.

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Journal

PLOS One

Article Title

Incorporating public values into public health communications: Effects of value affirmations on intentions to vaccinate and trust in the U.S.

 

Top climate scientists set out five steps to help the world prepare for super El Niño

University of Bristol

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Researchers have identified five key ways countries across the globe can be better prepared for the impending El Niño – and reduce its potentially devastating toll on human health.

The call to action, led by the University of Bristol and published in The Lancet, highlights how although it is widely-acknowledged El Niño exacerbates wide-ranging health risks posed by climate change, the additional threats presented remain largely unquantified. The researchers emphasise that as the El Niño cycle can be forecasted months in advance, preparatory measures should be put in place to mitigate the impact, especially in countries most vulnerable.

Study lead author Dr Ruby Lieber, Senior Research Associate in Climate Science at the University of Bristol, said: “We know the number of people affected by climate-related disasters is strongly influenced by the El Niño cycle, but there is little evidence available establishing how much of the health burden can be attributed to climate change and how much was driven by El Niño.

“Since the current El Niño pushes many regions into more extreme climates, there’s a pressing and unprecedented need to better understand, measure and pinpoint the different dangers for individual countries and places.”

The study recommends five important actions to gain this comprehensive risk overview, which holds the key to being able to tackle and minimise the likely consequences, including the spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition, and various heat-related conditions such as dehydration and heatstroke.

The points are:

• The United Nations, and other international bodies, must address the urgent need to protect health and prevent disease when El Niño is officially declared.
• National governments should be supported to assess the effects of El Niño on population health and to implement necessary precautions, including early-warning systems.
• Scale up El Niño-focused climate-health attribution studies and use the findings to inform and shape policy and practice.
• Continuously review the health effects of El Niño to gain comprehensive picture of its evolving impact and help identify and address any evidence gaps.
• Assess the cost-effectiveness of climate-health measures taken, such as early warning systems, bolstering health system capacity, urban flood protection and food system resilience actions.

Dr Lieber said: “These steps will require greater collaboration between climate and health researchers and, equally fundamental, concerted action between research funders, the World Health Organization (WHO), the wider UN system, the World Bank, and non-governmental organisations.

“Partnership working is imperative and such global entities need to urgently call on advances in attribution science to more accurately recognise and assess how much of the repercussions are the result of human-induced climate change and how much are a result of El Niño. By isolating the El Niño-related impacts, we can generate much more targeted and event-specific actions.”

A significant El Niño, which describes the warming of sea surface temperature, is likely to occur towards the end of this year with some forecasts predicting the strongest event on record. The direct effects of El Niño will be felt across the globe and may heighten instances of extreme weather in regions such as India, East Asia, South America, parts of Africa and the West Pacific.

Co-author Dann Mitchell, Shanta Professorial Chair in Planetary Health at the University of Bristol, added: “It’s clear that we cannot afford to ignore this emerging threat, which poses potentially devastating but predictable risks to communities around the world.

“Climate and health researchers must unite, with the full backing of national and international agencies, to create a much more advanced evidence base. This will enable us to ramp up global resilience and implement adaptation strategies to mitigate the many deeply concerning health implications, particularly for countries more acutely exposed.”

Watch Dr Ruby Lieber's super El Niño explainer on YouTube

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Journal

The Lancet

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(26)01826-X

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Enhancing preparedness for the impending super El Niño

 

Plant diversity as insurance against climate change: Loss of diversity in grasslands could lead to 15 percent less CO₂ uptake in 2050

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

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A substantial loss of plant diversity could mean that grasslands worldwide, including meadows and pastures, would absorb around 15 percent less CO₂ through photosynthesis by mid-century compared to a scenario in which diversity is maintained. In some of the most affected regions, CO₂ uptake through photosynthesis could decline by 50 percent, even in a scenario in which global warming remains below 2°C. The findings were published today in a new peer-reviewed study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Kiel University (CAU) in PNAS.

“Climate change could reduce the productivity of plants that at the moment dominate pastures and meadows. But if plant diversity is maintained, other plants that cope better with climate impacts have the chance to become more prominent and stem the decline,” explained Stephen Wirth, PIK researcher and lead author of the study.

“It’s not just about the lower rates of photosynthesis, but losing plant diversity also reduces forage supply for grazing animals, which in turn can threaten the livelihoods of people who depend on livestock grazing. Soils also store less carbon and contribute less to limiting global warming,” Wirth added.

Local experiments have previously shown that plant diversity supports grassland productivity. This study built on that work, using a global vegetation model to investigate how the loss of diversity affects CO₂ uptake and soil carbon storage under climate change. The researchers compared how grasslands develop with maintained versus strongly reduced plant diversity. In the model, the researchers assumed an extreme loss of plant diversity to investigate its potential consequences. They examined two climate scenarios with global warming of below 2 and around 4°C.

Substantial differences by 2050

Under 2°C of warming, grasslands with strongly reduced diversity take up around 11 billion tonnes less CO₂ per year through photosynthesis in 2050 than grasslands where diversity is maintained. This reduction in uptake would be comparable to losing an area of grassland with average productivity roughly the size of the Arctic Tundra. The model also projects lower soil carbon stocks where diversity is reduced.

Particularly large differences in CO₂ uptake in 2050 are evident in many tropical and subtropical regions. In these areas, grasslands with strongly reduced diversity take up as much as 50 percent less CO₂ than those where diversity is maintained. The extent to which grasslands benefit from diversity varies across regions.

“In some regions, remaining plants can compensate for the loss of other plant types, and productivity may even increase. Globally, however, the benefits of maintaining diversity prevail in both climate scenarios,” commented Susanne Rolinski, PIK researcher and co-author of the study.

The researchers caution that the exact magnitude of these effects remains uncertain because the model simplifies plant traits and interactions.

“To maintain grassland productivity under climate change, we need management practices that preserve existing diversity over the long term and prevent overgrazing,” said Friedhelm Taube, researcher at Kiel University and co-author of the study.

“Agricultural policy should support farmers in adapting their farms to climate change accordingly. This can help strengthen the livelihoods of people who depend on livestock grazing, particularly in the Global South,” Taube concluded.

Article: Wirth, S. B., Müller, C., Taube, F., Heinke, J., Tietjen, B., Rolinski, S. (2026): Global grassland productivity and carbon storage benefit from functional diversity under climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528067123

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2528067123

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Article Title

Global grassland productivity and carbon storage benefit from functional diversity under climate change.

Article Publication Date

7-Oct-2026

 

Top AI tools accurately identified validated home BP monitors only about 2/3 of the time

American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026 – Moderated Poster #TH125

American Heart Association

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Research Highlights:

• Three of the top four popular artificial intelligence (AI) tools – OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot and Perplexity AI – could not consistently identify if a home blood pressure monitor had passed clinical validation testing, with accuracy only 63% to 83% of the time. Google Gemini performed better but still provided incorrect responses about 10% to 15% of the time.
• All four tools misidentified various home blood pressure monitors as not meeting clinical standards even though the AI tool was verifying against the independent registries that list only validated blood pressure monitors.
• Researchers advise healthcare professionals and the public to confirm validation of home blood pressure monitors according to recognized independent, free and publicly available registries.
• Note: The studies featured in this news release are research abstracts. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Embargoed until 8 a.m. ET/7 a.m. CT, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026

Arlington, Va., Oct. 8, 2026 — Three of four leading AI-powered search tools accurately identified home blood pressure monitors that met validated clinical standards only 63%-83% of the time, according to preliminary research being presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026. The meeting is in Arlington, Virginia, October 7-11, 2026, and is the premier scientific exchange focused on recent advances in basic and clinical research on high blood pressure and its relationship to cardiac and kidney disease, stroke, obesity and genetics.

High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, affecting more than 125 million adults in the U.S. – about 47% – according to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update. Only about 1 in 4 of those adults have their blood pressure within the target range of less than 120 mm Hg/80 mm Hg, and high blood pressure.
The 2025 American Heart Association Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults recommends that people use a home blood pressure monitoring device that has been validated for accuracy. People can talk with their clinician and visit www.validatebp.org for more information.

Now that AI-powered search tools are integrated into all online platforms, people are increasingly asking AI tools for quick answers to health questions, including whether home health devices such as blood pressure monitors have been validated and meet clinical standards. A home blood pressure monitor is considered validated when independent, third-party testing has proven it gives consistently accurate blood pressure readings, and there are three primary registries that list these devices. In this analysis, researchers found AI-powered chatbots were not reliable at making this determination.

“We found that most AI tools performed only slightly better than if you had flipped a coin for each question. Even Google Gemini, which performed best, was often wrong and couldn’t find information that is easily located,” said Anna Soriano, M.D., a third-year internal medicine resident at the University of Montreal and the study’s presenting author.

“People may unknowingly think a device is validated based on the AI tool’s inaccurate responses. Using that device may result in inaccurate blood pressure readings, which could lead to an inappropriate diagnosis or treatment decisions,” she added.

What are the key findings of the study?

• Researchers found that accuracy at identifying if a home blood pressure monitor meets clinical standards varied significantly depending on the AI-powered tool used.
• Google Gemini scored the highest – answering correctly 86% to 91% of the time depending on how the questions were phrased.
• Correct responses from ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity ranged from only about 63% to 83%.
• All four AI tools were less accurate at identifying validated BP monitors vs. unvalidated monitors.
• When researchers retested the AI tools’ responses for devices that had mixed accuracy results, asking the same AI tool the same questions – on a different day or from a different computer – the AI tools often produced a different answer.  

Researchers also tested a wide range of devices, including lesser-known home blood pressure monitors, though researchers noted these still appear on the same official registries as more popular ones. The authors could not determine exactly why AI tools struggled with identifying devices that had already passed validation testing.

“It is surprising, and almost counterintuitive, that AI tools had so much difficulty specifically identifying validated devices, since those devices are the ones with clear listings on official registries,” Soriano said. “In many cases, the AI tools found the blood pressure monitor was listed within an official website, however, it seems AI was not able to interpret being listed on the registry as proof of validation.”

“Artificial intelligence holds great promise to help support clinicians in areas such as cardiac imaging, electrocardiography, mobile devices and other tools,” said Keith C. Ferdinand, M.D., FAHA, an American Heart Association volunteer expert and vice chair of the Association’s 2025 High Blood Pressure Guideline. “The potential shortcomings of AI demonstrated by this study’s results should remind clinicians and the public that the use of AI for clinical decision-making requires caution. In addition, home blood pressure devices need to be both validated [listed on the national registry validatebp.org and accurate. With the proper technique and regular monitoring, readings from home BP devices are a valuable component of integrated, individual treatment plans that can improve patient care and outcomes.” Ferdinand, who was not involved in this study, is the Gerald S. Berenson Endowed Chair in Preventative Cardiology and professor of medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

A limitation of the study is that these results are likely to change as AI technology continues to improve with time. In addition, to limit each tool’s ability to learn from previous test searches, scientists used private internet browsing sessions; however, this technique could not fully prevent language model training of the AI tools.

What are the details, background and design of the study?   

• Researchers tested 324 home blood pressure monitors in Canada during April - May 2026 – 145 validated devices and 179 not-validated devices – drawn from 3 validation registries (StrideBP, ValidateBP and Hypertension Canada); a list of known non-validated devices; and the list of top-selling blood pressure cuff monitors sold via Amazon in Canada, Australia and the U.S.
• The authors tested each device with four AI search tools: Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
• Researchers asked each of the AI tools three types of questions about each of the 324 blood pressure devices: a general, public-style question about the device’s validation status; a more specific question directing it to check a named validation registry; and the same question asked with more details and requiring a one-word answer.
• To test consistency, the researchers retested 20% of devices that had produced mixed results, using three different examiners on different computers and on different days primarily in May 2026.

Note: This abstract will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, October 8, 2026.

Co-authors, their disclosures and funding sources are listed in the abstract.

Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. Abstracts presented at the Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, rather, they are curated by independent review panels and are considered based on the potential to add to the diversity of scientific issues and views discussed at the meeting. The findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.  

The Association receives more than 85% of its revenue from sources other than corporations. These sources include contributions from individuals, foundations and estates, as well as investment earnings and revenue from the sale of our educational materials. Corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations to the Association. The Association has strict policies to prevent any donations from influencing its science content. Overall financial information is available here.

Additional Resources:

• Multimedia, including a video interview with Keith C. Ferdinand, M.D., FAHA, an American Heart Association volunteer expert, is on right column of release link.
• The abstracts will be published at 10 am ET, Nov. 17, 2026, in the Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026 Supplement of the Hypertension journal.
• American Heart Association news release: Cuffless blood pressure technologies in wearable devices show promise to transform care (Dec. 2025)
• American Heart Association news release: Only 1 in 7 online health images show proper technique to accurately measure blood pressure (Sept. 2025)
• American Heart Association health information: Home Blood Pressure Monitoring
• American Heart Association health information: Understanding Blood Pressure Readings
• Follow American Heart Association news from the meeting on X @HeartNews #Hypertension26

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The American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026 is a premier scientific conference dedicated to recent advancements in both basic and clinical research related to high blood pressure and its connections to cardiac and kidney diseases, stroke, obesity and genetics. The primary aim of the meeting is to bring together interdisciplinary researchers from around the globe and facilitate engagement with leading experts in the field of hypertension. Attendees will have the opportunity to discover the latest research findings and build lasting relationships with researchers and clinicians across various disciplines and career stages. Follow the conference on X using the hashtag #Hypertension26.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities, the organization has been a leading source of health information for more than one hundred years. Supported by more than 35 million volunteers globally, we fund groundbreaking research, advocate for the public’s health, and provide critical resources to save and improve lives affected by cardiovascular disease and stroke. By driving breakthroughs and implementing proven solutions in science, policy, and care, we work tirelessly to advance health and transform lives every day. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, X or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

 

Novel device will help show how wildfire smoke impacts wildlife

Colorado State University

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The collar around this mule deer's neck holds sensors measuring air quality as well as physiological and location data, giving researchers insights into the animal's health and activity. Credit: Alexis Neukirch/U.S. Forest Service

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Credit: Alexis Neukirch/U.S. Forest Service

When wildfire smoke fills the air, most people can go inside to avoid it. Wildlife does not have that option, and little is known about how animals living in remote areas respond to wildfires and smoke exposure.

Colorado State University researchers have developed an air quality monitoring device that can be paired with systems that track wildlife location and physiological data to learn how smoke impacts wildlife health and behavior. The smoke logger is an open-source tool that will allow wildlife researchers everywhere to answer questions that previously couldn’t be answered and gather data that can be used to better protect wildlife. The smoke logger design and programming are now freely available with publication of initial results in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

“Wildfire is now a chronic problem in North America. We all are experiencing these massive smoke plumes that can negatively affect air quality for weeks at a time,” said CSU Professor George Wittemyer, who led the project with U.S. Forest Service wildlife ecologist Mark Ditmer and CSU postdoctoral researcher Adam Parlin. “We're interested in how wildlife adjusts its behavior relative to smoke exposure, and it wasn't possible to know until now.”

As wildfires increase in frequency, size and severity, smoke plumes that impact air quality for an extended time are a new stressor for wildlife, Wittemyer added, and air quality typically is not monitored in wilderness areas. The small, affordable smoke logger the team has developed can be attached to animal-borne collars to record the concentration of hazardous particles animals are breathing.

“We know relatively little about the impacts of wildfire smoke on the behavior of animals in the field, especially how free-roaming wildlife respond to severe smoke events,” said Parlin, who designed the smoke logger while he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. “These units provide one avenue to better understand the consequences from wildlife’s perspective – such as identifying refugia during smoke events – that can provide actionable insights for conservation and management.”

Wildlife studies – especially those that capture, collar and recapture animals – are resource intensive, and many of them already track health data, like heart rate, in addition to GPS coordinates. These data combined with smoke logger data will reveal new information about wildlife welfare and activity.

The team is partnering with researchers across the western U.S. to piggyback on studies tracking cougars, deer and elk, and they stationed sensors in the habitat of the endangered Sierra Nevada fisher, a small mammal related to weasels, to better understand the air quality in their range. Those results will be published in future studies.

They encourage researchers with projects where wildlife collars are recovered to partner with them to add smoke loggers to their sensor packages. Or, for about $100 in materials per unit, researchers can assemble their own smoke loggers by downloading the free, open-source design and programming.

Initial deployment on mule deer revealed that air quality differed by an order of magnitude – 10 times either more or less – between the deer-borne sensors and the closest monitoring stations, indicating the highly localized nature of air quality and the need to monitor individual animals to understand their exposure and response. Deer monitored in Colorado and Utah this year were not exposed to unhealthy levels of wildfire smoke, but testing showed that the sensor is sensitive enough to register minimal air pollution spikes from traffic for urban-dwelling deer.

"That was eye-opening for us and shows how variable air quality is at a microscale,” said Wittemyer, a professor in the Warner College of Natural Resources.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitors air quality in populated areas across the country through the AirNow network. The wildlife-worn sensors will fill gaps in data and deliver further health insights for people exposed to smoke too.

To design an affordable tool, the team repurposed a low-cost, commercially available sensor similar to the ones used by the PurpleAir monitoring network. The sensors use a laser to measure microscopic particles known as particulate matter 2.5 because they have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. These particles are detrimental to cardiovascular and respiratory health.

The solar-powered smoke logger is designed to be worn on a collar by medium and large animals and must be recovered for the data to be downloaded. Transmitting data would be costly and would drain the device’s battery, limiting its lifespan, and there is no connectivity for transmission in wildlands. Instead, air quality data is recorded and stored every 30 minutes.

Ditmer said a stronger understanding of how smoke impacts wildlife health will improve conservation planning and allow prescribed burns to be timed to reduce risk to wildlife.

“Prescribed fire is an important tool for managing forests in the face of increasingly severe wildfires, and understanding when and where smoke actually reaches wildlife could help managers plan burns that meet forest-management goals while reducing exposure during sensitive periods or in important habitats,” he said. 

Former CSU postdoctoral researcher Adam Parlin assembles a smoke logger that will be attached to a wildlife collar, so researchers can study the impacts of wildfire on wildlife. Courtesy of Adam Parlin/Colorado State University

Credit

Adam Parlin/Colorado State University

Usage Restrictions

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Journal

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1111/2041-210x.70420

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Smoke Signals: Measuring Wildlife Smoke Exposure with Animal-Borne and Stationary Sensors

Article Publication Date

8-Oct-2026