Webinar | Knowing the facts: How communicators can identify and respond to vaccine misinformation

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Date and time

🗓️ Friday, 2 May 🕚 10:00 a.m. (EDT)

Background

Vaccination is a complex behavior influenced by a variety of factors; one of these is exposure to misinformation about vaccines, which has shown to negatively impact individuals’ attitudes and intentions toward vaccination, even among people who have previously been vaccinated. Fighting back against science deniers and their misinformation is a critical part of maintaining trust in immunization and protecting populations from a variety of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). Critical in this fight are understanding how and why misinformation spreads; which approaches can be employed to combat it, both before and after people have been exposed; and rebuilding trust in immunization after it’s been shaken.

Ministry of health risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) teams face a daunting task in staying abreast of misinformation so they are able to monitor it and take decisive action to combat it when needed. By collaborating at the national, district, and local levels with a variety of partners - including health workers (HW), who have been repeatedly shown to be the most trusted source of information on vaccines and vaccination - RCCE teams can use several different approaches to equip their audiences with the tools and knowledge to help resist misinformation.

Audience

The primary audience for this session is the following:

1. Ministry of Health communicators at all levels (national to local), especially those working in the field of immunization and/or risk communications.
2. PAHO country office communications focal points.
3. PAHO country office immunization focal points.
4. Communicators working in the field of immunization at partner organizations who may be interested in participating.

Objectives

The objectives of this webinar are as follows:

• To help the audience understanding how and why vaccine misinformation spreads.
• To share tips on how to spot misinformation about vaccines.
• To provide some strategies for fighting back against vaccine misinformation.

Agenda

Moderator: Leticia Linn, Director of Communication, PAHO