#Suggested Reading
#Suggested Reading
17.06.2024
Guidelines to combat misinformation about vaccines
Pediatric infectious disease specialist recommends international document for healthcare professionals with information and responses regarding the safety of immunizations
Since 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been warning that vaccine hesitancy will be one of the decade’s ten biggest public health issues | Image: Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil
WHAT I RECOMMEND:
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Guide to aid healthcare professionals in addressing the main messages and responses regarding vaccine safety. The document references questions about vaccine development, clinical trials, and approval, as well as the importance of high vaccine coverage and adverse event monitoring.
WHY IT IS WORTH READING:
With the growing wave of misinformation about vaccines, one of the major shortcomings reported by healthcare professionals is the lack of reference materials to quickly answer questions, mainly those regarding vaccine efficacy and safety.
Since 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been warning that vaccine hesitancy will be one of the decade’s ten biggest public health issues, and Brazilians, who were so certain of the effectiveness of our National Immunization Program (PNI), thought we were immune to it all.
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived and, along with it, the politicization of healthcare and vaccines. Defenders and critics, supporters and detractors, a veritable debate featuring “opinions” from all sides.
All of this has shaken one of the main pillars of a successful PNI. The distrust is not limited to the vaccine itself, but also to the public system of the state and government that runs it.
The effects were and are still being felt today, not only in relation to COVID-19, but also other vaccinations.
The most challenging aspect of this scenario is the lack of preparation by healthcare professionals when it comes to addressing families’ insecurities, their fears, and uncertainties about something that has always, intuitively, felt so obvious. Vaccines save lives.
This PAHO guide, published in 2021, is an extremely useful tool to help all healthcare workers have a clearer and more informed discourse. It is an excellent piece of support material.
The content addresses these vaccine development questions, their clinical trials, and approval processes, as well as the importance of high vaccination coverage and adverse event monitoring.
Questions and answers, myths and truths, key messages, all communicated in a light and intuitive manner, with the main goal of dissipating doubts, changing opinions, and validating knowledge, through trustworthy and safe information, based on scientific proof, reducing vaccine reluctancy and increasing adhesion to the vaccination programs.
Several studies show that healthcare workers are the most reliable sources of information about vaccines and immunizations for the entire population and for healthcare service users.
It is essential that everyone is prepared to answer questions and clarify doubts, avoiding confrontation in an empathetic way, providing clear and accurate information.
Renato de Ávila Kfouri is a pediatric infectious disease specialist, vice-president of the Brazilian Immunization Society (SBIm), president of the Immunization Department at the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP), member of the Technical Advisory Board for the National Immunization Program (PNI), and Brazil’s representative for the Regional NITAG Network of the Americas (RNA).
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