In March 2021, media hell broke loose around the COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca. People heard that the vaccine was responsible for cases of thromboembolic events. This was enough to cause a worldwide panic and many countries stopped vaccination with this vaccine.
In fact, it emerged that by 10 March 2021, 30 cases of thromboembolic events had been reported among almost 5 million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s product in EU/EEA countries. This is 0.0006%!!! Furthermore, the European Medicines Agency has stated that thrombophilic events are not causally related to vaccination. This was confirmed by the World Health Organisation, which reported that 268 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide to date and no vaccine-related deaths have been identified.
The Office for the Registration of Medicinal Products for Medical Devices and Biocidal Products in Poland, the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, the UK Medicines Registration Agency, not to mention information from the vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca, were also in favour of continued vaccination. Nevertheless, concerns remained. Some people were opting out of the vaccination upon hearing that it was to be an AstraZeneca vaccine. It can be hypothesised that this was the result of a competitor coming up with such a sublime factoid and feeding it to people’s fears about health and life. It is difficult to find information on what economic impact this case had on AstraZeneca, but it is easy to guess that it certainly affected the company’s profits.
This is an extreme example. What is important in this case is the behaviour of the company itself. It was prepared for such a crisis and minimised its impact. Firstly, the reaction of AstraZeneca representatives was immediate. Messages were posted on its websites, both at its headquarters and in all the countries where it has subsidiaries. More importantly, the company immediately set out to ‘mouth’ the word of mouth from experts and endowed institutions, including the WHO, that their vaccines were safe. It is easy to imagine the havoc this company would cause if AstraZeneca took no action. It is possible that many countries would have withdrawn its vaccine from use altogether.
Therefore, in your company, protect yourself as much as possible against such events and their consequences. Create a Crisis Management Book. Especially since the term ‘book’ fits perfectly with the collection of documents of your business bible. And, as in the case of the studies already described, you need to approach this very individually. After all, there is no single Book containing effective methods for dealing with crises. This is logical, because, after all, why would you need procedures to deal with an accident in which an employee fell into pig iron in a steelworks, when you are running a hotel, for example? Again, the subject needs to be approached in a way that is tailored to the specifics of your business.
Remember that the Crisis Management Manual (some also call it a Procedure) is intended to enable you to respond quickly, adequately and effectively to threats that may or could negatively affect your business and its image. Such a document clearly describes the rules of conduct and communication in crisis situations, including the rules concerning the circulation of information. This is all so that, should a crisis occur, everyone in your company knows what they can and cannot do.
Imagine that information reaches the public that your colleague, the vice-president of the company, has been harassing young female employees. At that moment, journalists appear in front of the company gates, who will absolutely be interested in such a case. And they question everyone from the cleaning lady to yourself about the details of this scandal. We have already talked about this. People are different. Some will say ‘I don’t know anything, leave me alone’, but there are also those who like to shine by nature and will spin stories of all sorts in the glare of flashes and cameras. A bit of truth, more conjecture and a lot of gossip, just to sit in front of the TV with the family and see their face in it later. How to avoid such a situation and effectively manage crisis communication? The Crisis Communication Book is helpful. More about it in the next post!
Łukasz Dziedzic
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