By: Dita Subagya) *
Soon Indonesia will hold a national corona vaccination. This program is very important to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. But unfortunately there are many hoaxes about vaccinations, especially on social media. The public is encouraged to fight it with a positive literacy campaign, so that vaccinations run smoothly.
Have you opened social media today? Social media and cyberspace have become the second home for most Indonesians. Unfortunately, social media is also overgrown by hoax posts. Especially ahead of the national corona vaccination, fake news is spreading, starting from Facebook to the WA group.
One of the corona hoaxes that have appeared on social media is that the covid-19 vaccine can be dangerous, because it contains vero cells that come from the kidneys of African green monkeys. This hoax is wrong, because the Sinovac vaccine comes from an attenuated virus, not vero cell. It’s kind of ridiculous, too, because why add monkey cells to the human vaccine?
In addition, the hoax that is widely heard is that this vaccine can change human DNA. So that people who do not understand will be afraid when they will be vaccinated. Logically, how is DNA changed with just a shot of the vaccine? Because the DNA change process is very complicated, and cannot be replaced by an injection.
Hoaxes are very unsettling and annoying, because they can turn a lot of people into sudden anti-vaccines. Eradicating fake news must be done immediately, so that all Indonesian citizens comply with vaccines, and we can end the pandemic period as quickly as possible. If not, then the government’s target will not be successful.
Chairman of the DPD RI LaNyalla Mattaliti urged everyone to obey vaccines and not to believe in hoaxes circulating, especially on social media. According to him, there are pros and cons to vaccination. But we have to trust the government, so that it can break the chain of spreading corona in Indonesia.
Likewise with doctors from IDI. They formed Kawan Vaksin, a group to campaign for the corona vaccination in 34 provinces in Indonesia. Coordinator of Kawan Vaksin, doctor Iswanto Idji, stated that this movement was intended to make health protocols successful and respond to the low level of public literacy towards vaccines, which resulted in hoaxes.
There needs to be a literacy movement on social media so that no one is trapped in hoaxes. We are fighting against the bad habits of Indonesians whose literacy level is low or they don’t like to read, even only deducing from news headlines. The struggle must be enforced, for the success of the corona vaccination.
We can start the anti hoax corona literacy campaign from the nearest environment. For toddlers who still can’t read, tell them that vaccination makes the body free of corona, so they must have the injection. Meanwhile for older children, campaign that vaccination will make them healthy and allow them to study again at school.
Today’s children are already using gadgets to study at home. Teach them how to distinguish real news from hoaxes, so that it is not easy to believe if there is an antivax spreading falsehood. They will ask their parents, and discuss that there is a hoax on social media.
Actually, on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, hoax posts about corona vaccinations have also been permanently blocked. But there is nothing wrong with telling the children, so when they haven’t been blocked, they can report it to social media.
Corona vaccination literacy campaigns can also be carried out in neighborhoods, work friends, and extended families.
The biggest challenge is when telling people who are easy to believe hoaxes, because on average they are elderly, or do not know the difference between hoaxes and real news. Don’t rebuke harshly, but tell slowly.
We can also do the anti hoax literacy movement on our own social media accounts. So that followers know the difference between fake and real news, and they are willing to be vaccinated against the corona. One status on Facebook can change the view of many people, so let’s campaign so that national vaccination works.
) * The author is a resident of Semarang