In fight against misinformation: Gifs, short videos on social media
NEW DELHI: With a vaccination drive to begin from Delhi schools from January 16, the fight against rumours and misinformation has moved to social media, including Whatsapp.
Under a central government initiative, short videos featuring actor Amitabh Bachchan and several gifs will be deployed urging parents to vaccinate their wards against measles and rubella (MR).
“These will be shared on Whatsapp and other social-networking platforms,” said Pradeep Haldar, deputy commissioner, immunisation, ministry of health and family welfare. “When it comes to misinformation being spread on Twitter and Facebook, we can identify the rumour-mongers and ask platforms to take down such messages. But it is extremely difficult to do so on a medium like Whatsapp.”
Although misinformation and rumours against vaccination were largely considered to be a rural problem, the new media has allowed it to spread to urban areas as well. The initiative counters claims that MR vaccine causes infertility and death.
“Now we also have people from urban literate background asking why the additional dose,” said Haldar. “Under the national immunisation programme there are two doses for measles and rubella, and even if 100% people receive both doses there would be 2 or 3% children who can still get it. And, if a high proportion of the population is not vaccinated, the infection would be in circulation and get transmitted to adults as well.”
The Amitabh Bachchan video links vaccination with cricket. “Vaccinate every child between 9 months and 15 years for measles and rubella. This is available for free at schools and health centres. When the children are healthy, only then will they be able to play (cricket),” says Bachchan in the video.
In Delhi, more than 55.5 lakh children will be vaccinated within the next two months. The measles-rubella campaign, which started in India in February 2017, has already covered 22 crore children in 30 states, according to ministry officials.
“The vaccination will be carried out in a phased manner; students from around 5,000 big schools in the city will receive the vaccines between January 16 and February 2, after which there will be a gap because the national pulse polio drive is scheduled. From February 11 for another two weeks all the other schools will be targeted along with an outreach with the health of ASHAS and ANMS. And then, there will be a mop up for another week to vaccinate anyone who has been left out,” said Dr Suresh Seth, state programme officer, immunisation.