Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A new vaccine emoji to get more COVID-19 shots into arms

Amanda D'Ambrosio
Conditions
July 26, 2021
10 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

A public health expert and a web developer have created a new digital communication tool to get more COVID-19 shots into arms — a vaccine emoji.

Social media users have been using the syringe, microbe, or mask emoji in their posts to talk about the pandemic. The new vaccine emoji, however, will display a flexing bicep patched up with a Band-Aid, representing an empowered post-vaccination goal.

“Everybody should have access to vaccines,” tweeted Sonia Boender, PhD, a field epidemiologist from Berlin who helped create the emoji with web developer Gideon Duschek. “We hope that the @VaccineEmoji supports communication.”

The duo designed the new emoji to aid in public health social media messaging. The emoji has yet to be approved by web text organizations, but if it’s adopted, experts say it will make vaccine communication easier, more accurate, and more positive — encouraging people to go out and get the jab.

The new emoji has gained traction among health care workers and public health experts, getting more than 320,000 views in the last few days, according to supporters of the effort. It has also attracted the attention of high-profile public health experts such as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, MD, director-general of the WHO, who supported the icon on World Emoji Day last weekend.

“I hope next #WorldEmojiDay we will have a #VaccineEmoji and that people in all countries will be able to use it after getting their #COVID19 vaccine,” he tweeted.

The emoji emerged on Twitter in January. Boender and Duschek crafted a design proposal to submit to the Unicode Consortium, the organization that regulates web text standards before companies like Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms decide how they will look on their websites and devices.

“We want a new #emoji for #vaccination,” Boender tweeted. “No blood dripping syringe, but an accurate representation of life-saving vaccination.”

For the bulk of the pandemic, the syringe emoji had become synonymous with vaccination on social media. But that wasn’t its intended meaning. The syringe icon was initially created to represent blood donation as a part of the first set of emojis in 1999.

As a symbol for vaccination, experts say the syringe emoji is really not all that accurate — it has a red barrel and a drop of blood spurting from the needle.

In the beginning of the vaccine rollout last year, however, more and more people started using the syringe emoji on social media with phrases like “COVID,” “vaccines,” and “Pfizer.” This spring, Apple redesigned the syringe emoji, removing the droplets of blood and swapping the red barrel of the syringe to a blue-gray to represent the vaccine dose.

“BREAKING: they finally got us a vaccine emoji that looks right!!!” Jeremy Faust, MD, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, wrote on Twitter. “No more inaccurate bloody syringe!”

“Now we need a post-vaccination emoji,” tweeted Cleavon Gilman, MD, an emergency physician based in Arizona, over a retweet of Boender and Duschek’s new flexing bicep emoji.

Other supporters say the @VaccineEmoji is one of the few positive icons regarding vaccinations available on social media.

“There was nothing really out there that was really positive about vaccines,” said Gabriella Corrigan, a spokesperson for the Task Force for Global Health, an organization that promotes vaccine accessibility, and one of the supporters of the new emoji. This icon, with its flexed bicep, represents strength and empowerment in the global immunization effort, she added.

Corrigan said any messaging tool that helps experts convey the facts more succinctly and efficiently is going to influence how the public thinks about public health.

“It seems like an emoji wouldn’t be something that’s really that important to a health intervention,” she said. “But as we’ve seen with previous vaccines, and now during the pandemic, messaging can be really important, and plays a big role in public health.”

Amanda D’Ambrosio is a reporter, MedPage Today. This article originally appeared in MedPage Today.

Image credit: MedPage Today

Prev

The need for ophthalmologists is greater than ever

July 26, 2021 Kevin 3
…
Next

Federal legalization of cannabis: What does it mean for patients?

July 26, 2021 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The need for ophthalmologists is greater than ever
Next Post >
Federal legalization of cannabis: What does it mean for patients?

Related Posts

  • COVID-19 divides and conquers

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • COVID-19 and the Tuskegee syphilis study

    Bintou Diarra
  • Major medical groups back mandatory COVID vaccine for health care workers

    Molly Walker
  • How to get patients vaccinated against COVID-19 [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • State sanctioned executions in the age of COVID-19

    Kasey Johnson, DO
  • A patient’s COVID-19 reflections

    Michele Luckenbaugh

More in Conditions

  • Communication, power dynamics, and organizational culture in health care

    Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP
  • Everyday dangers unknowingly impacting our health

    Tami Burdick
  • A shop teacher’s daughter on transforming patient safety

    Barbara L. Olson, RN
  • What happened to the chemical pathologist?

    Martin C. Young, MD
  • Second chances and simple beauty in thrift stores

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • Air quality alert: Reducing our carbon footprint in health care

    Shreya Aggarwal, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Challenging the diagnosis: dehydration or bias?

      Sydney Lou Bonnick, MD | Physician
    • COVID-19 unleashed an ongoing crisis of delirium in hospitals

      Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher, MD, Nathan Stall, MD, and Paula Rochon, MD | Conditions
    • Air quality alert: Reducing our carbon footprint in health care

      Shreya Aggarwal, MD | Conditions
    • A teenager’s perspective: the pressing need for mental health days in schools

      Ruhi Saldanha | Conditions
    • End-of-life ethics and antibiotic use [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • I’m a doctor, and I almost died during childbirth

      Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • End-of-life ethics and antibiotic use [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Physician return-to-work policies

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • Communication, power dynamics, and organizational culture in health care

      Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP | Conditions
    • How my patients’ Zoom backgrounds made me a better doctor

      Joseph Barrera, MD | Physician
    • Understanding reproductive rights: complex considerations

      Anonymous | Physician
    • Innovations in surgical education [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 7 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Mortality Risk From Damaged Bronchi Extends to People Without COPD
  • ChatGPT Improving, but Still Lacks Reliability as a Clinical Support Tool
  • COVID Vax in Pregnancy Protects Young Infants Against Omicron
  • Repeat Tests for Inflammation Aid Prognosis After Acute Heart Failure
  • FDA OKs Another Injectable for Rare Kidney Disorder

Meeting Coverage

  • Hot Flashes: Precursor to Alzheimer's Disease?
  • SABR Offers New Hope for Older Patients With Inoperable Kidney Cancer
  • Menopausal Women With Obesity Endure Worse Symptoms, Less HT Relief
  • Study Pinpoints Growing Use of Cannabis to Manage Menopause Symptoms
  • Fezolinetant Benefits Women Not Suited for Hormone Therapy
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • Challenging the diagnosis: dehydration or bias?

      Sydney Lou Bonnick, MD | Physician
    • COVID-19 unleashed an ongoing crisis of delirium in hospitals

      Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher, MD, Nathan Stall, MD, and Paula Rochon, MD | Conditions
    • Air quality alert: Reducing our carbon footprint in health care

      Shreya Aggarwal, MD | Conditions
    • A teenager’s perspective: the pressing need for mental health days in schools

      Ruhi Saldanha | Conditions
    • End-of-life ethics and antibiotic use [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Medical gaslighting: a growing challenge in today’s medical landscape

      Tami Burdick | Conditions
    • I want to be a doctor who can provide care for women: What states must I rule out for my medical education?

      Nandini Erodula | Education
    • Balancing opioid medication in chronic pain

      L. Joseph Parker, MD | Conditions
    • The erosion of patient care

      Laura de la Torre, MD | Physician
    • I’m a doctor, and I almost died during childbirth

      Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD | Physician
    • Mourning the silent epidemic: the physician suicide crisis and suggestions for change

      Amna Shabbir, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • End-of-life ethics and antibiotic use [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Physician return-to-work policies

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • Communication, power dynamics, and organizational culture in health care

      Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP | Conditions
    • How my patients’ Zoom backgrounds made me a better doctor

      Joseph Barrera, MD | Physician
    • Understanding reproductive rights: complex considerations

      Anonymous | Physician
    • Innovations in surgical education [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

A new vaccine emoji to get more COVID-19 shots into arms
7 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...