It was a screenshot of a 75-slide presentation posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website, shared by her by a friend who attended a recent meeting about the emergency approval for the vaccine.
The image has a thin black stripe, surrounded by heavy gray shadow that has risen on top of the graph.
None of that sounds so funny. However, the image looked strikingly like an anatomical part that could not be repeated in a family newspaper. It did not lose Marcus, or the hundreds of commentators with double contestants.
“J&J vaccine increases,” Marcus wrote with a wink. Who said epidemiologists have no sense of humor?
Within hours, the message was shared more than 6,000 times and more than 30,000 likes were selected. Hundreds of people started weighing in and made their own light comments about what exactly the image looks like. You can read all the answers here (be warned, many are NSFW).
Reached by phone, Marcus said since everyone had been talking about COVID-19 and vaccines for months on end, and the news was relentlessly dark, she wanted to lighten people’s mood.
“People are struggling now, and I think people should laugh. That was really my only intention, “she said. “I think people like a good pun.”
But the answer, she said, was a bit surprising.
“I did not really predict it,” Marcus said. “I can not really respond. But it looks like a pun game. ‘
Her tweet had an unforeseen benefit that many commentators noticed. Using a sly joke to convey important information about the effectiveness of the latest vaccine can boost it people’s confidence to get the chance.
“You’re laughing,” one person tweeted, “but I argue that this graph will reach more people who need to see it than a graph that does not look like that!”
Another person said it was a clever way to promote the vaccine, while a third applauded the use of humor in a public health message.
Marcus’ research focuses mainly on HIV. But during the pandemic, she writes about the “importance of harming harm to prevent coronavirus transmission, with lessons learned from the HIV epidemic,” according to the Harvard Medical School’s website.
Marcus said her tweet was only meant to bring a little liveliness into a dark time. But if the graph helps spread information about vaccination and draws attention to the ‘very impressive data’, it’s a win-win, she said.
“The more people see the astonishing efficacy data on these vaccines, the better,” she said, “and I like to do my small part.”
It is not that small.
Steve Annear is looking for stories that are so weird or unconventional that you have to bring them along during dinner. Have you ever seen something you want answers to? A giant door? Or maybe a Cradle Cemetery, a stranger stone marker on an island, of or trophies under a bridge? Let us know by reaching out.
Steve Annear can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.