A new COVID vaccine toolkit,?? ?? ??? released Tuesday morning by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, hopes to teach vaccinated Americans how to dispel online Covid vaccine myths among their friends, family, and community members, as a new vaccine push for children begins.
In a press releaseon Tuesday, Murthy explained the toolkit was made available to coincide with the new federal approvals for Covid vaccinationfor most kids. "With the authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to11 years old, it is more important than ever that families have access to accurate, science-based information. Health misinformation is spreading fast and far online and throughout our communities," Murthy wrote.
The digital toolkit will be distributed among health professionals, teachers and school administrators, faith leaders, and other community members, and offers advice for effectively communicating with vaccine-hesitant individuals and those sharing misinformation online.
The resources include explanations of different types of misinformation shared online, how and why its spread, and reflexive activities — like hypothetical scenarios and personal prompts to analyze your own social media feed — to practice discussing commonly-shared vaccine misinformation with your fellow community members.
When looking at online information, the toolkit states, be aware of common strategies used to spread disinformation (defined in the guide as misinformation that's intentionally shared for malicious purposes, like to trick people). Disinformation posts often use visual cues like pictures of someone wearing a white coat or holding a stethoscope, and logos of established organizations, like the CDC, to feign credibility. They also frequently rely on word-of-mouth stories — be aware if a post starts with something like "My brother works for the government..." or "My sister is an ICU nurse..." Always try to fact check these kinds of first-person stories, or go elsewhere for your information.
There's also a succinct fact-checking guide for when you encounter health-related content that you might not be sure about:
Check if the information has also been published by the CDC or a local public health department.
Go to a health care professional, such as your doctor or nurse, to verify the information.
Google to see if other credible sources have made the same claims.
Look through the “About Us” section of the websites to see if the source is reliable.
Don't share if you're unsure about the claims being made.
This toolkit adds to the Surgeon General's previous efforts to combat vaccine misinformation. In July, Murthy issued a public advisory on the threat of health information, and called on health workers, media companies, government entities, and individuals to help stop the "urgent threat" of misinformation.
And other institutions have offered similar resources. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a quick Covid vaccine misinformation FAQ. The United Nations created Team Halo, a network of health professionals around the world sharing accurate Covid vaccine information on social media. Earlier this year, the CDC published its own Covid vaccine misinformation guide, including a social media toolkit for posting about the vaccine and vaccine misinformation online.
"The good news is that we all have the power to help stop the spread of health misinformation during this pandemic and beyond," Murthy stated in the release. "That's where this toolkit comes in — to provide Americans with resources to help limit and reduce this threat to public health."
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