Addressing Rumors or Myths and Role in Vaccine Safety Events

"...we should all be vigilant and report any rumors as soon as possible and address them right away."

Created by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP), this video is part of a series of short animated videos that make up the Interpersonal Communication for Immunization Package. The videos illustrate interpersonal-communication-based challenges and solutions to improving immunisation coverage and are intended to be used as job aids to support frontline health workers as they address barriers to immunisation in their communities.

In this video, two frontline health workers who had recently held a community outreach session to motivate parents to take their children to be vaccinated deal with a rumour that is being circulated on the radio and through face-to-face communication about a possible adverse event following immunisation (AEFI). The video models the strategy they undertake: talking to the mother at the centre of the controversy and enlisting her help in dispelling the circulating myth. With the support of the health workers, she speaks to her fellow community members and explains that her son's mild fever, post-vaccination, was a normal side effect - stressing her strong, continued belief in the importance of immunisation.

The series was made possible by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in partnership the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emory University, GAVI, International Pediatric Association (IPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), University of Alberta-Canada, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Pretest Partners include Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Programme (CHIP) Pakistan and CCP in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Uganda.