COVID-19 vaccination: Webinar
Field epidemiologists are at the forefront of addressing both disease epidemics and infodemics. As the COVID-19 situation becomes increasingly complex in many places in the world, including Papua New Guinea (PNG), the amount of misinformation – both online and offline – is increasing, and needs to be addressed.
Field Epidemiology Training in Papua New Guinea (FETPNG) graduates have been on the frontline of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in PNG for over a year; rapidly learning and implementing new knowledge and systems as the evidence-base grows.
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout looms, however, there is a new wave in the COVID-19 infodemic; an overabundance of information about the vaccine that makes it difficult for people to ascertain what is accurate or not, and what sources are reliable and trustworthy. This process of navigating truth from misinformation and rumour is difficult for healthcare workers and community members alike.
FETPNG graduates need to be equipped with evidence-based information to make informed decisions for themselves, and in leading the COVID-19 response in their communities.
In response to this need, the FEiA and FETPNG teams hosted the first FETPNG Alumni Network event on Friday 25 March 2021: a live webinar on the COVID-19 vaccine.
FETPNG Alumni in PNG and Solomon Islands joined the webinar alongside other development partners from the region as an expert panel from PNG and Australia answered the most common questions the FETPNG community submitted via an anonymous online REDCap survey.
Participants shared that they found the session valuable, with one commenting:
This first webinar was very helpful as it brought clarity to alot of questions we had regarding the vaccine and thus am certain that such webinars in future will be very helpful information for us so that we can confidently apply this knowledge in practice in a very challenging environment where people have different beliefs and perceptions about covid-19 and now this new vaccine.
Thank you to our panel for sharing your expertise with the FETPNG Alumni Network:
- Ms Martha Pogo, Acting EPI Program Manager, National Department of Health, PNG; FETPNG Faculty
- Professor David Durrheim, Professor Public Health Medicine, University of Newcastle; Director of Health Protection, Hunter New England
- Dr Tony Merritt, Public Health Physician, Hunter New England Health; FETPNG Faculty
The webinar is available to watch in full on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9k-7aLOEs4
We look forward to hosting further webinars soon.
For a COVID-19 one-stop shop, please see our Resources page here: https://www.fieldepiinaction.com/covid-resources
FEiA team