How to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance

On 26 April 2022, the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) launched its report on 'Countering COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy'. This online event offered academy leaders and Fellows, along with their communications teams, representatives of other scientific organizations and the press to participate in this online event designed to assist academies with outreach and address concerns from the global public on this topical issue.

"Our new report provides concrete examples and factual information that various groups, including academies and other scientific bodies, governments and healthcare providers, pharma companies, journalists and the media, and individuals can use to counter vaccine hesitancy and promote vaccine acceptance," said IAP co-president Richard Catlow.

"Our role is to inform the public and policy-makers about problems and potential solutions. Now – more than ever - we, members of the global scientific community, must work together to promote a culture of trust in COVID-19 vaccines," added IAP co-president Depei Liu.

The webinar, moderated by IAP Coordinator Peter McGrath, featured the following presentations:

• ‘Building trust in vaccines and their regulation’- Prof. Toni Gabaldón, Professor, Comparative Genomics Group Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC-CNS), and Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Spain;  Member, Member, IAP COVID Expert Group; Alumnus, Spanish Young Academy
• ‘Dealing with mis- and dis-information in the COVID era’ - Prof. Herman Wasserman, Professor of Media Studies, Centre for Film and Media Studies, South Africa; University of Cape Town; Member, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
• ‘A vaccine curriculum for school children’ - Dr. Carol O’Donnell, Director, Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC)

You can watch the recording of the webinar here and on the IAP YouTube Channel: