Video: COVID-19 Science in 5 series
A series of public dialogues entitled ‘COVID-19 Vaccination: Myth vs Reality’ has been taking place across the 12 regions of Uzbekistan with more planned for the new year. WHO/Europe and UNICEF Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) have joined forces
with the Agency of Sanitary Epidemiological Well-being under the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the Nationwide Movement Yuksalish, to conduct the dialogues.
These have proven to be a valuable opportunity for individuals and community leaders to meet face-to-face with Ministry of Health representatives, and to have their questions answered, their opinions heard, and their concerns and fears addressed. Importantly,
these sessions have also been helping to debunk the dangerous misinformation and mistruths around COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination that have been circulating in the country over recent months.
Speaking about the dialogues that have taken place so far, Lianne Kuppens, WHO Representative in Uzbekistan, said, “These events have enabled us to reach communities, listen to them and help them better understand why it is important to be vaccinated,
what vaccines are for, and why it is necessary to use reliable sources of information about COVID-19.”
Listening to people’s opinions and concerns, addressing them with evidence-based information, and engaging communities as part of the response builds trust between authorities and people. In turn, trust supports people’s adherence to public
health advice and contributes to pandemic control.
In addition to the public level dialogues, which have been organized at both a regional and district level, multimedia materials, including 50 000 leaflets and 27 000 posters with facts about vaccines and vaccination, have been produced for the Agency
of Sanitary Epidemiological Well-being, to help reach more of the country’s population.