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The power of language in medicine cannot be understated. How the words of clinicians shape the public vernacular and drive media misinformation has been evidenced on multiple occasions throughout this pandemic.
Consider the growing concerns over stigmatization of several racial and geographical groups related to the naming of novel strains on the basis of geographic origin (i.e., “South African variant,” “Brazilian variant,” “Indian variant,” etc). While most strains have gene sequence labels like B.1.617.2, these labels are uncommon in routine exchanges and do not blend well with the public vernacular. The World Health Organization has attempted to reverse the stigmatizing effects of this infodemic by the introduction of a Greek Alphabet-based nomenclature to denote certain strains. Unfortunately, these new changes may be too little too late especially when these popularized terms of the more dangerous geographic variants become associated with fear-mongering and race-blaming.
Competing Interests: None declared.References
- Diana Duong. How can clinicians counter viral misinformation?. CMAJ 2021;193:E651-E652.
- Ewen Callaway. Coronavirus variants get Greek names — but will scientists use them? Nature 594, 162 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01483-0
- https://blog.geographydirections.com/2021/06/17/covid-based-stigma-and-racism-in-naming-strains/