By: Tika Putri (Member of the Cianjur City Regional Independent Social Media Activist Forum)
Recently the government has been actively vaccinating the public, especially health workers. However, many hoax stories were found related to vaccination from irresponsible parties with the aim of attacking the government.
Many interest groups also use the national vaccination program as material for hoax news. They seemed to be competing to create turbidity in the calm, flowing clear water. Social media is supposed to be used as literacy media to convey good and informative news but nowadays it has been misused to spread hoax news.
The rapid development of technology through the internet should be used to access valid and referenced information, but this development is misused by irresponsible people as a means of spreading hatred, provocation, and hoaxes. Meanwhile, hoax news is news, information and important messages that have been engineered in such a way and spread in the media, especially on social media.
There are so many hoaxes related to the Sinovac vaccine passing through social media. Interest groups that oppose the government have tricked them so that people will not believe in the existence of the Sinovac vaccine.
The hoax news makers have gone too far. They seem to know better than the doctor who has made this vaccine and the prescription has been tested. They seem to know the contents of the vaccine better. What are the hoaxes about vaccines?
Vaccines can change the genome
PT Bio Farma’s Covid-19 Vaccine Spokesperson, Bambang Herianto, explained that there are vaccines that use RNA and some use DNA. Regarding the circulation of information that vaccines can change the human genome into something else, this information is not true. Even though the vaccine comes from RNA, its genetics has been cut off. So it is impossible to suddenly enter human genes and then change humans into crocodiles, monkeys, or others.
Vaccines are still in clinical trials
There is information stating that the Covid-19 vaccine to be used is a vaccine for clinical trials. This is confirmed to be hoax or untrue because the Covid-19 vaccine which is currently being used by Bio Farma and used for the national vaccination program has used a vaccine that has obtained a license to use from BPOM.
Vaccines contain preservatives
Another hoax that circulates is that there are preservatives contained in vaccines. The Covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac does not contain ingredients such as borax, formalin, mercury and does not contain preservatives.
Vaccines that will be used in the community have gone through the stages of development and a series of rigorous tests, so that their quality, safety and effectiveness are guaranteed under the supervision of BPOM and meet international standards.
The public is expected to support and succeed Covid-19 vaccination by preventing and fighting hoaxes related to vaccination through positive campaigns on social media. Campaigns on social media are aimed at disseminating information that contains the benefits of the importance of Covid-19 vaccination, as well as warding off the hoax of Covid-19 vaccination that is widely spread among the public.
Citizens together with the community need to support and implement vaccinations for Indonesia’s resilience and progress through the success of national vaccination.