Scientists join the fight against vaccine misinformation, release guide
This will include public behavior and attitude suggestions, current policies, hard facts, and misinformation.
By SARAH BEN-NUNAn individual dose of the filled SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate made by biotech company IDT Biologika in Dessau-Rosslau, Germany. June 24, 2020(photo credit: HARTMUT BOESENER/IDT BIOLOGIKA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Vaccine misinformation is proving to be one of the greater challenges in the pandemic, and scientists have banded together to publish a constantly-updated guide with the latest comprehensive vaccine information.The guide, which went live on Thursday, was published by the University of Bristol, and will include public behavior and attitude suggestions, current policies, hard facts, and misinformation. The target readership are those who believe common myths, and harbor fears, about taking it once it becomes available. It is authored by experts in vaccine psychology, virology and education.“Vaccines are our ticket to freedom and communication about them should be our passport to getting everyone on board," said the lead author, Prof. Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol."The way all of us refer to and discuss the COVID-19 vaccines can literally help win the battle against this devastating virus by tackling misinformation and improving uptake, which is crucial," he said.Misinformation has gained the most traction, reached the most people, through social media. Few companies, including Youtube, Facebook, and TikTok, acknowledged the role they must play in policing the misinformation rampant on their sites, for the sake of public safety."That’s why we produced this handbook, so everyone has the basics, as well as more comprehensive information, at their fingertips and can do their part in sharing facts, not fiction, to put us on the road to recovery rather than a path of further suffering."On December 20, Facebook announced
