‘Stop the spread of COVID myths’
All areas: Health specialist warns of misinformation
As vaccines continue to be rolled out for top priority residents, a councillor has urged everyone to only get their information about the vaccine from official sources. He said the spreading of myths could be ‘extremely harmful in our chances to push this virus back’.
A councillor and specialist in infectious diseases has urged all residents to fight the spread of myths and misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last week, Wexham Park Hospital was one of the first hospitals to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine for the most vulnerable, such as care home residents.
At the current time, it is not known how many people in the Royal Borough have received the vaccine.
Councillor Stuart Carroll (Con, Boyn Hill), lead member for health, is also an epidemiologist with expertise in vaccines. He believes more information on uptake will be available in the next couple of weeks.
“The initial implementation of the new vaccination programme is going smoothly,” he said.
“We all have a responsibility in making sure that we get vaccinated as and when the vaccine is made available to us. The NHS will be
very proactive, it will make contact with people when they need to get the vaccination, so people don’t need to make contact with the NHS directly.”
He added that the vaccine is ‘very safe and effective’ and that it is ‘absolutely vital’ people get their information about it from official sources.
“There’s various hype and misinformation on the internet and social media – myths around the vaccine in terms of what it contains and its effects,” he said.
“It’s important everyone plays their part in stopping the spread of misinformation. It’s extremely harmful to public health, and extremely harmful in our chances to push this virus back and in the fullness of time get out of this crippling pandemic.
“Vaccines are the most effective and cost effective intervention after clean
water. This particular vaccine has had to undergo considerable, serious scrutiny from the independent regulator the MHRA.”
This week, a new variant of COVID-19 was discovered in 60 different local authorities in England. Health secretary Matt Hancock said there was ‘nothing to suggest’ it causes worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.
The council does not yet have data on whether there have been any cases of the new strain in the borough.
“It’s only been identified in recent days and it’s just too early to say what the impact of that could be,” said Cllr Carroll.
“It does speak to the critical importance of the guidance – following it stringently and diligently so we can stop the spread of the virus.”