Fighting fake news is a challenge in the coming pandemic | Science and health

The deputy director of the National Health Supervision Agency (Anvisa), Patricia Oliveira Pereira-Tagliari, said the fight against fake news is a challenge that society must face so that fake news does not circulate in other health outbreaks. Information of concern to the population.

“We’ve had to deal with a lot of fake news in this period that is still very consuming. Even today, we spend 20% of our time trying to explain and reassure people that vaccines are safe. [de covid-19] They are not experimental. We need a legal structure prepared for the next pandemic to deal with defamation [da vacina]Patricia said, during the 7th International Symposium on Immunology, promoted by the Bio-Manguinhos / Fiocruz Institute, in Rio de Janeiro.

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For the expert, an effort is needed to ensure that the right message is communicated to the population in the most transparent manner possible. She also called for interdisciplinary education so that all healthcare professionals understand how safe medicines and vaccines are.

It’s surprising that so many health professionals helped spread misinformation about a COVID-19 vaccine because it was developed in less than a year, said Colorado State University professor Alonso Aguirre.

The director of the Todos pela Saúde Institute, Mariângela Simão, highlighted the need to improve the huge disparity in the distribution of vaccines and medicines to the poorest countries to combat epidemics. “Technology sharing is a big problem. We have to do better to be prepared for the next pandemic.”