Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 16 December 2020

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Roll-out of Covid-19 Vaccination: Discussion

Dr. Ronan Glynn:

I can respond to an element of that. As the strategy sets out, this is a clear and fundamental component, as Professor MacCraith said earlier. There is no doubt that there will be misinformation and rumour and the reality is that as quickly as we respond, there will be further rumours and more misinformation. What has been proven internationally over time is that as important as responding to misinformation - which is clearly very important, as we have seen over the last year in terms of Covid-19 more generally - is ensuring that the basic correct information is put out regularly, transparently, as quickly as we have it to hand and in a form that is digestible for the public. It needs to be in many different forms because people digest information in many different ways. As I said earlier, there will be a campaign at national level but at local level elected representatives, GPs, pharmacists, healthcare professionals of all types as well as community organisations and others will have a fundamental role to play in addressing misinformation over the coming months. However, I would reiterate that the majority of people in the country at the moment have indicated that they plan to get the vaccine, albeit they have very understandable questions that we need to answer.

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