The United Nations has collaborated with the Vaccine Confidence Project at the University of London to set up Team Halo to counter the myths around COVID-19 vaccines to share information on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines through social media.
Key Points
- Under the new initiative, over 100 scientists from across the world have joined hands to tackle the threat of misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines.
- The team would develop creative, social media-friendly videos on topics including Covid-19 vaccine science, personal experiences etc.
- In India, around 22 scientists have joined the ‘Team Halo’ from various reputed institutions like PGIMER, Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital, Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Christian Medical College, IIT Indore, SRM Research Institute, and Deep Children’s Hospital and Research Centre.
- This initiative is supported by scientists from top institutes across the world, involved in the race of developing Covid-19 vaccine.
- The Team can also interact with the public or directly counter vaccine misinformation and rumors spreading on the internet.
- Team Halo also aims to highlight the work undertaken by scientists in India, the UK, South Africa, the US, Qatar, UAE, Spain, Peru, France, Brazil and Canada. The team also aims to create a platform for enabling communication between the scientists working on Covid-19 vaccines as well as the citizens of these countries.
Stop the Spread Campaign
Before Team Halo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) along with the United Kingdom started a campaign named Stop the Spread to raise awareness about the risks of misinformation around COVID-19, and to encourage the people to check the information with trusted sources like WHO and national health authorities before believing. The World Health Organisation is promoting the campaign in many countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America to tackle the myths around COVID-19.