COVID-19 Vaccination: IAP Young Physician Leaders alumni set the record straight

The quest for finding durable solutions to the ongoing pandemic, has encouraged scientists to produce new information at an unprecedented speed. However, the current pandemic is also characterized by an 'infodemic' where facts, checks, balances and reliable information stand side by side with fiction, myths, conspiracy theories and falsified information, especially with regards to COVID-19 vaccination.

They circulate on social media and saturate the public discourse to the extent that the public often finds difficulty to dissociate one from the other. So much so, that the long awaited vaccine discovery (by scientists), could be followed by unforeseen vaccine hesitancy (from the public) and precede a novel type of public health disaster. In addition, specific populations may not present the effectiveness reported to the vaccine until now. Collecting follow-up information about vaccine effectiveness in different target groups is crucial for the medical professionals as well as people everywhere.

IAP Young Physician Leaders (YPL) decided to try to set the records straight by contributing valuable information regarding COVID-19 vaccination. On 20 January 2020, Juan Carlos Núñez-Enríquez (Mexican Institute of Social Security; YPL of 2016) raised the awareness about the importance of doctors and medical staff in the era of vaccination.

"We are the most trusted advisors and influencers of vaccinations decisions, we are agents of change and we can help establishing vaccination as the norm," says IAP Young Pysician Leaders (YPL) alumnus Juan Carlos Núñez-Enríquez at today's YPL webinar pic.twitter.com/Yy2RxhGIhk

— InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) (@IAPartnership) January 20, 2021

Subsequently, Biljana Gjoneska (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts; YPL of 2011) cautioned against the most prominent and vaccine-related conspiracy theories in the era of dis/information.

Now Biljana Gjoneska (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts; YPL of 2011) cautions against the most prominent and vaccine-related conspiracy theories in the era of dis/information pic.twitter.com/Q49d6SK5fi

— InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) (@IAPartnership) January 20, 2021

The webinar included a Q&A session that gave attendees the chance to discuss their experiences and share their point of views.

You can watch the recording on the webinar below or on the IAP Youtube Channel, and download the slides of Juan Carlos Núñez-Enríquez here and of Biljana Gjoneska here.

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