"Your content has assisted me in making thoughtful and science-driven decisions on how to handle social situations throughout the pandemic. I’ve been able to use your posts to understand the science behind how viruses transmit, their level of contagion, and the risk of being around those both vaccinated and unvaccinated, and the benefits of vaccination and the timeline to give vaccines. I was always pro vax but it’s further solidified my decisions! This account has also given me a sense of when and how to be appropriately cautious. This was especially helpful for navigating family and friend gatherings! I’ve learned more from you than any doctor quite honestly lol and I’ve been able to explain things to confused family and friends when they read misinformation"
"Oh, your impact has been huge for not just navigating risk factors during the pandemic but also how to broach those conversations with others and set boundaries for my family. Also teaching me to recognize disinformation/misinformation in general. Also just having a trusted source to give perspective on other infectious disease outbreaks that have popped up and whether or not to be concerned or how to handle them i.e. monkeypox Also, your tone is always very open and non-judgmental. You’re fully transparent in your decision making for your family while acknowledging that others may need to be more/less cautious depending on circumstances while still stressing the importance of mitigation measures. Truly one of my favorite accounts on here. In short, thank you for all you do."
"Besides offering excellent, easy-to-understand content, (that I have referred friends, family, and colleagues to) I have appreciated you sharing how you have assessed risks and made decisions about your life during the pandemic. I'm immunosuppressed, and it has been difficult to find practical guidance. I also appreciate your acknowledgement and consideration of the immunosuppressed population/other vulnerable populations. Personally, it helps me feel less invisible, but broadly it also brings awareness. Thanks for all you do. I can only imagine the time and effort you put in."
"You helped me understand hybrid immunity- a topic rarely shared and after a few years of following you gained trust although i don’t always see things similarly; i very much respect your perspective and knowledge and ability to share kindly. "
"Dr. Liz meets me where I’m at: she has made complex science topics easy for me to understand, in a medium that I’m already checking daily (Instagram). While there is a lot of disinformation on the internet, she is a trusted source, especially for science related to pregnancy, infants, and young children- often areas overlooked by other science organization communication. I routinely look to her saved posts and highlights- she’s helped me and my husband navigate having our first child during COVID. I am so grateful to have found her, and appreciative she is still posting about COVID. I also appreciate that she lets us learn a little bit about her personal life. I’d like to think we’d be friends IRL 😉 It may be difficult to quantify Dr. Liz’s impact, but please know her work and messaging has directly influenced so many."
"Hi Liz! You have helped me synthesize new information (example: from meetings related to vaccine guidelines ) which I then share with 3 additional households."
“You’ve helped me with Feeling confident about vaccinating my toddler for Covid 19"
"Easy to digest summaries (eg new vaccine recommendations) have been wonderful to share with family members."
"You helped me learn about the pediatric Covid trials and how to enroll my kiddo in one—I did it and had a great experience. She’ll be three in June and has had her double series shots and her bivalent. Thank you!!!"
"Your consolidation of the vast amount of info about COVID vaccines- particularly for children, was incredibly helpful. The information you provided during the pandemic was helpful to me in keeping my boundaries and feeling good about them when my family members were not on the same page! Thank you SO much! "
"I routinely referenced your flow charts to help me understand the constantly changing guidelines (I’m a ARNP), I also used your explanations of viruses etc to explain to patients. Thank you! "
"I’ve shared your posts on COVID and COVID vaccines, which led to some loved ones getting vaccinated and boosted. Additionally, a lot of your stories about mitigations you’ve taken (and continue to take) have helped inform my behaviors to lower my risk of getting COVID. And I’ve also felt less alone in my COVID precautions because of what you share and others’ comments on your posts. Seeing like-minded individuals on your page has supported my mental health. "
"You have helped immensely. Your use of data to explain medical issues, especially COVID concerns, has been highly beneficial. For me, reading your analysis of new trends, and summarizing content has been reassuring, and educational. Strong impact on my education, and mental health! Thank you!"
"Hi! Re:reach/impact: I like to forward relevant posts to my teen as a way to educate without sounding preachy. I think the medium is more approachable for that generation, and they can digest and revisit the info at their own pace. I also like to demonstrate to my teen why you are a reliable source for the type of posts I’m forwarding, and how I choose which science accounts to follow so she can be discerning in her own scientific info consumption/ education. Thank you! "
"You have helped me feel less crazy navigating Covid with my family (including elementary school age children). Your information has also helped us navigate this pandemic and has enabled me to make good and informed decisions."
"By reminding me that our family is not alone in believing in science and following COVID precautions. Husband is a physician. We live in the South. It’s been a very difficult few years."
"You have helped me a lot, Liz, thank you! I live in Bulgaria, where science communication is extremely ambiguous when coming from mass media. There was soo much Covid vaccine hesitancy - I almost didn't get the shot myself. Luckily thanks to you even my daughter (who is 1) is vaccinated now. We also managed to convince my husband's parents and sister. I think this impact is unmeasurable - so thankful! Thank you! "
"Thank you for always compiling the most recent research and vaccine directives in an easy to understand way. And I appreciate that you direct to other scientists when a question is out of your scope of work. "
"You've helped me confirm or clarify my understanding of information, but mostly you've helped me feel less alone in caring about protecting myself and my family from Covid."
"You’ve helped in so many ways….. most sentences re: Covid in my life started with “sciencewhizliz said…”. Concise info, consolidated data, objective info, perspective, references to others, helpful guidance, informed summaries, gratitude for the time it took from your life to guide us. So thankful ."
"Provided great vaccination information so I could better have a conversation with people I love about the false information they believed. Having evidence to bring up that I knew was legit and reviewed by an expert is amazing."
"I feel like you’ve continued to try to support us all who have questions in this ongoing pandemic. No shade to other science communicators who are likely very burnt out but you’ve shown a consistency that others have not. Your consistency has allowed me to feel less confused and more informed. I always look forward to your posts and your stories/Question Box and it has made me feel more at ease than I would otherwise. You make a huge impact. Thank you! You also have a way of explaining things that make sense and are easy to understand."
"Hi, and thanks so much for all your great content the past few years! I work in global public health, so during the pandemic, I became my family/friends’ “phone a friend” for all COVID questions. Your posts were extremely helpful in explaining things, particularly immunology, that are well beyond my own professional knowledge/skills. They allowed me to be a better source of information, and counteract misinformation, and it was also easy to point people to your posts for those details. Thanks again! "
"1. You always help me feel less alone in masking and continuing to balance all the needs of life including minimizing risk to covid. 2. when I read your work I’m better equipped to articulate things and often I link back to the resources you create to others who may be confused about certain topics."
"You've made me feel seen and less alone as we figure out how to navigate risk management with ourselves and our 3.5yo ."
"I am a master's degree'd RN, and for as much as I know, I dont know but a smidgen of what counts. I work in clincal research and worked on a couple of covid studies during the pandemic --a vaccine and also a mAB for resp failure in covid pts who were intubated. I found myself being go-to for my family and friends for legit information during the pandemic. I referenced your work a lot, as well as Dr Kat, Katalin Jetalina, Dr Noc, and a few others in the science and research industry. I thank you so much for standing up to the mis/dis information and for consistently sharing facts & evidence-based information. It has been extremely helpful, and I still go back a re-review some of your posts at times. Thank you again, and keep up the good work."
"You have helped me in more ways than one. Specifically regarding your willingness to share both personally and professionally about covid, vaccines, masking, precautions, etc. Your ability to make complex scientific findings digestible to non-science people is beyond helpful. I often screenshot your posts or stories to share with people who aren’t on instagram. Additionally, seeing how you parent during a pandemic, assess risk, continue to mask, etc. has truly made me feel less alone in the decisions we make for our kids and ourselves."
"I have a graduate degree and work very public health adjacent so consider myself very capable of reading research, understanding systemic issues, etc… and YET I’ve struggled tremendously to find actionable data over the last few years to help me navigate day to day decisions as a human and parent who both wants to avoid the unknown impacts of COVID and also needs to functionally exist in society. You have been one of the very few voices I know I can trust to share unbiased, nuanced scientific data and who also shares candidly about the choices you are making in your own life. You were absolutely one of the sources that made me feel more ok sending kids in our home back to school (with quality masks and CR boxes) and creeping back into socializing. I really appreciate you sharing your own approach to things because I know that while I might make slightly different choices I can absolutely trust that you share data and your interpretation of it that is valid and as unbiased as possible. "
" I leaned on you HARD during peak pandemic for accurate information and advice. Especially when it felt like I was spiralling. I would check in daily. And even now, I love your well-informed posts, and the feeling of not being alone while still navigating all of this. You are putting in the WORK, and I thank you."
"Dear Liz, you have greatly helped me understanding how to explain why I was very much pro vaccine when speaking to someone who was unsure. Thank you all the way from Switzerland."
"Absolutely! I truly appreciate everything you share. It has helped me tremendously in staying informed and better equipped to protect myself and my family."
"The most impactful outcome of all the science communicators I started following during Covid was knowing to ask better questions, and to think more critically about the information being given. You guys so carefully and thoughtfully broke down different information, and how it came to be, which has given me skills to start doing that for myself. So very grateful."
