Displaying items by tag: rumours

With the rollout of vaccines for Covid-19 now imminent, there are increasing concerns around misinformation (online or on social media) turning people against being immunised. The WHO says an overload of information, some false, makes it difficult for people to make decisions about their health. One participant in a coronavirus vaccine trial said, ‘It's often very difficult with the amount of information that we are being bombarded with to make sense of what you should be doing. I think a vaccine is one of the only ways out of the situation if we want to get away from endless lockdowns and curfews.’ Researchers have moved at record speed to develop vaccines, and the WHO is monitoring data from over 200 trials on several types of vaccine based on different technologies. They are going through the same safety tests as vaccines already used all around the world.

Ebola relief efforts by Doctors Without Borders are being hindered by violence and rumours. The outbreak began when a family, fearful of treatment centres, fled authorities to visit traditional healers. Healers keep few records of their patients, making it difficult to trace and break the chains of transmission. Before national elections on 30 December, opposition politicians exploited the crisis by spreading rumours that Ebola has been concocted by the government to kill people’, claiming that ‘thermo-guns aimed at people’s foreheads to take temperatures are weapons to steal votes’. In Beni and Butembo, where Ebola is worsening, and in Yumbi, where hundreds have been killed in ethnic Mai-Mai violence, people were not allowed to travel to polling stations to vote (see http://www.africanews.com/2018/12/26/drc-polls-ceni-says-no-election-in-beni-butembo-and-yumbi-cities-until-march/). Civilians don’t know who to trust, and fend off all outsiders. When police tried taking an infected baby to doctors, his grandmother threatened them with a machete. On 1 January volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse arrived in the region to help those who are fighting for their lives. Hundreds are already dead. See https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/samaritans-purse-sends-team-to-congo-to-help-fight-ebola-outbreak