Education, communication with citizens and the promotion of scientifically proven facts are key to suppressing misinformation about vaccination, and the health authorities must not be alone in this fight, the Institute for Public Health (IJZ) and the Raskrinkavanje platform agree.
The IJZ told the MINA agency that it is important for citizens to look for information in the right place, namely health institutions, first of all the Institute, where people work who have dedicated their entire professional working life to the fight against infectious diseases, risking their lives family members to protect the entire social community.
Any type of fight against infectious disease, as they said, requires a broad social response and activities of all segments of society, not only health and government institutions, but also non-governmental sector, professional, media associations, academic and educational level of the community.
The editor-in-chief of the Raskrinkavanje.me portal, Darvin Murić, told the MINA agency that health authorities can deal with misinformation regarding immunization, first of all, through communication and education of citizens, but that they must not be alone in this.
"It is not the job of doctors and scientists to fight against misinformation, that should be regulated by those who deal with media and Internet regulation, and, above all, politicians must create preconditions through changes to media laws and the Criminal Code," said Murić.
The IJZ said that the Action Plan for improving routine immunization coverage, which was adopted by the National Commission for Routine Immunization formed by the Ministry of Health, foresees measures to combat misinformation.
That process, they added, will be long-lasting and requires, in addition to professional detailed preparation, education.
"Activities in this field are carried out daily through contacts with the media, as well as announcements and information posted on the websites of the IJZ and other health institutions, but that passive type of struggle needs to be upgraded to an active one, through a clearly defined campaign that would also include social networks." , said the IJZ.
They said that their doctors answered all the questions raised by the media and citizens.
"Our doors are always open to anyone who has any dilemma and question regarding the topics mentioned, regarding immunization in general, but also the pandemic and vaccination against COVID-19," said the IJZ.
As they added, media space and adequately conveyed information are one of the key mechanisms for achieving a better educated population.
The survey, which was conducted by the Damar agency for the needs of the Center for Democratic Transition, showed that a third of Montenegrin citizens believe that the vaccine against COVID-19 causes disease and death and that the coronavirus pandemic is invented.
According to Murić, the results of that research are worrying, but not surprising.
According to him, the fact that a third of citizens believe that the vaccine against COVID-19 causes disease or kills indicates the spread and effectiveness of disinformation, but also the lack of action by the competent authorities who allowed anti-vaxxer disinformation to "run wild", both on social networks and in public space.
"Research results, such as those related to COVID-19 and the fact that almost 70 percent of citizens consider disinformation to be a problem, are an obvious call to the authorities to finally start the fight against disinformation," Murić pointed out.
He, answering the question whether enough has been done in Montenegro when it comes to the fight against misinformation about vaccination against COVID 19, said that apart from what the IJZ was doing, we have not seen any decisive action by the state to suppress misinformation about the pandemic and vaccination .
"Even the people who held the most important positions in the state at the time did not contribute with their example and behavior, but we had claims about the strange growth of antibodies and vaccinations that no one had seen," Murić added.
Asked what could be the key reasons for citizens' irrational tendency to misinformation, he said that in Raskrinkanje they believe that one of the key reasons is that citizens are not adequately protected from false narratives and misinformation.
"Certainly, what I can personally say is that it is certainly also the result of fear. We lived in uncertain times during the height of the pandemic, not much was known about the virus, we were all scared and inclined to believe in anything that offered us some security Muric said.
As he stated, the data that every fourth citizen of Montenegro says that in the last year they believed disinformation once a week, and every tenth once a day, shows that we are vulnerable to misinformation.
Murić said that from a citizen's point of view it is not strange, because now disinformation is packaged in such a way that it is easy to believe it.
This, he added, happens to everyone, even to those who analyze them.
"It is not uncommon for us to believe something, only to find out after a search that it is untrue. This also speaks to the prevalence of the problem, as much as citizens are able to filter, there is so much misinformation that some simply have to pass "under your radar", he said. is Murić.
He pointed out that misinformation is a bigger problem in societies where there are cracks, that is, divisions.
"There are significantly fewer of them in stable societies. And it is certain that in Montenegrin society, where tensions have reigned for a long time, misinformation can have greater and more dangerous consequences," said Murić.
This is exactly why, as he said, an urgent reaction of the authorities is needed and one must not wait for "the spark that will light the fire".
Asked what the most common misinformation that the Raskrinkavanje platform came across, Murić said that there were frequent allegations that the vaccine causes sterility, blood clots, heart problems, and all, of course, without any proof.
As he said, the recent trend is to try to connect every death with the vaccine, especially when it comes to celebrities such as athletes, musicians, and journalists.
"So we have had cases where it is claimed that a man of 80 years or more died suddenly from a vaccine," said Murić.
Disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccination, as he said, was dominantly spread through social networks, but a good part of it ended up on marginal portals.
"Traditional media passed the test. Apart from the occasional transmission of disinformation, which was the result of the lack of verification and the need for quick reporting, there were no cases of disinformation coming from such newsrooms," Murić pointed out.
The IJZ said that, during the previous three years of the pandemic, public health workers proved that they had a sufficient level of knowledge to deal with all the surprises that each new strain of the pathogen brought us.
This, they added, was confirmed by numerous visits by international partners, as well as educations that the IJZ conducted for medical and educational workers, the media and citizens in general.
"However, the seriousness of the situation and the scope of activities exceed the human capacities at our disposal, therefore it is necessary to employ an even greater number of workers who will work on the prevention and control, first of all, of infectious diseases," stated the IJZ.
As they said, only by increasing these capacities, along with education and training and other elements of society, will it be possible to deal with this type of problem.
"In this sense, the construction of the Operational Center for Public Health Threats within the IJZ is underway, which would be the basis for upgrading through the establishment of the School of Field Epidemiology in cooperation with the Robert Koch Institute from Berlin, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization organization (WHO), with selfless help and a donation from the European Union," said the IJZ.
They stated that in this way they would train a sufficient number of people for some future public health threats within Montenegro, but also establish a center for this type of training for the entire Western Balkans.
"One of the important activities and knowledge gained through that center would be the fight against the "infodemic", added the IJZ.
They said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities and institutions, especially those dealing with public health, showed extraordinary efforts to procure vaccines and established a "cold chain" system.
This, as they said from the IJZ, required special expert knowledge, given that the health systems for the first time in modern health history encountered such a large pandemic and the characteristics of the causative agent, as well as a large number of vaccines from different manufacturers and requests for transport, storage and application.
They stated that they were satisfied with all the processes carried out, but that immunization coverage was not at the level of economically developed countries in Europe.
The reasons, as they said, are numerous.
"In addition to the vaccination campaign that started later, caused by the unavailability of vaccines on the market, problems in financing and implementing the immunization campaign due to the enormous costs of the national economy caused by the pandemic, insufficient work on popularizing vaccination at the local level, socio-political events, there are certainly insufficient information of citizens, misinformation, first of all, through social networks and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories, they influenced a weaker coverage," stated the IJZ.
They added that countries from the region and the whole of Southeast and Eastern Europe did not have satisfactory coverage, which also indicates some cultural specificities of those countries.
"Overall, as a result, we had immunization coverage with the vaccine against Covid-19, which is now at about 62 percent of the adult population, which, given the problems faced by the health system of Montenegro, was expected," said the IJZ.
They said that the influence of misinformation, fake news about vaccinations and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories alone cannot be blamed for this, but rather that it is the cumulative result of all factors.
As they stated, after three years of the COVID pandemic, the population is tired of information about this infectious disease.
The IJZ said that this coincides with the decreasing number of sick, deceased, as well as milder symptoms of the disease, which is caused by mutations of the causative agent itself, which seems to be closing its natural cycle.
They pointed out that, nevertheless, there is no relaxation and there should not be in the health sector, especially among professionals who carry out supervision.
"The result of reduced immunization coverage due to false news or the activities of anti-vaxxer associations was detected in vaccinations against some other infectious diseases, such as the case with the MMR vaccination," the IJZ reminded.
They said that health workers have to fight and promote scientifically proven facts, which are often not receptive to the general population, but reveal one important fact, which is that vaccines save lives.
The municipalities with the highest coverage when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination are Kotor, Podgorica, Cetinje, Tivat and Kolašin, while the lowest response was recorded in Petnjica and Gusinje.
The IJZ said that in the municipalities where the coverage of immunization and the vaccine against COVID-19 has been reduced, activities are being carried out within the Immunization Caravan, a program funded by the Embassy of the United States of America, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and with the technical support and coordination of the WHO, IJZ and the Health Center of the Capital City.
"The aim of the activity is to present, in direct contact with citizens, all the benefits and benefits that citizens can get from MMR, HPV vaccination or vaccines against influenza and COVID-19," the Institute stated.
As they said, these activities have so far been carried out in Budva, Nikšić, Bijelo Polje and Ulcinj, and are planned in a few more cities by the end of March.
"We invite citizens to get information directly from health professionals about any confusing or information that causes them any doubts. We are here to explain why vaccines are the best decision for your children and you personally, which is reflected in the campaign slogan "Breathe health!", they said from the IJZ.
As of March 21 of this year, a total of 686,75 thousand doses of vaccines against COVID-19 were given, of which 293.894 were first, 286.090 second, 103.131 third, 3.462 fourth and 173 fifth doses.
Of the adult population, 61,3 percent received one dose, 59,7 percent two, 21,5 percent three, 0,7 percent four, and 0,04 percent five doses.
In relation to the total population, 47,3 percent of citizens were vaccinated with the first dose, 46,1 percent with two doses, 16,6 percent with three doses, 0,6 percent with four doses and 0,03 percent with five doses.
The IJZ called on elderly people, especially over 65, as well as those with chronic diseases or immunodeficient people, to get vaccinated against COVID-19, given that the largest number of people with more severe symptoms, hospitalization and unfortunately, fatal outcomes were recorded precisely in these populations.
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