The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought with it many challenges worldwide; one of which is the abundance of misinformation and fake news about the virus and the vaccines. This flood of inaccurate information and conspiracy theories makes it difficult for the public to know who to trust and has resulted in vaccine hesitancy and resistance to some of the basic infection prevention methods.

 

And within a South African context, much of the scientific and medical information that is available, is only provided in english and often published with a western audience in mind.

 

DIPLOMICS has developed and produced a ten-part series of short, myth-buster videos to help combat this influx of misinformation, and to start a more inclusive, constructive and educated dialogue amongst South Africans about COVID-19, the vaccines and the world-leading work our scientists are doing here at home.

 

The videos have been produced in four South African languages; English, isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans and will cover a range of topical myths and subjects for the next ten weeks.

 

Episode two debunks the myth that the vaccines were rushed making them “experimental” and unsafe. We briefly explore the history behind the vaccine development and the years of scientific research, advancement and collaboration that allowed for such a remarkable turnaround in creating the most effective weapon we have against this pandemic.