Role of media vital in countering myths regarding COVID-19: Health Ministry
Jun 23, 2021
New Delhi [India], June 23 : The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that media is a valuable partner in fighting the COVID-19 and its role is vital in countering myths regarding the COVID-19.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) held a capacity building workshop for the media professionals and health correspondents on the current COVID situation in India, the need to bust myths about COVID vaccines and vaccination, and reinforce the importance of COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
According to the statement issued by MoHFW, the workshop was attended by more than 300 Health Journalists and senior officials of DD News, All India Radio, Press Information Bureau of various states and union territories.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, on the occasion, thanked all the media professionals for their sustained efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and remarked that the media is the most important pillar with a social responsibility to inform and educate the masses in our collective fight against the COVID pandemic.
"Media has always been a valuable partner in fighting the pandemic. Multi-Stakeholder and sustained campaigns like COVID-19 vaccination have to effectively counter fake news and myths and the role of media becomes vital in countering myths," the Health Secretary said.
"The need of the hour is to follow the five-pronged Strategy of COVID Appropriate Behaviour, Testing, Tracing, Treatment and Vaccination. Considering the dynamic clinical nature of the SARS-COV2 virus, vaccination and COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) consisting of wearing the mask properly, frequent hand washing and maintaining six feet distance remain the most important interventions to contain the pandemic," he said.
Joint Secretary of MoHFW Luv Agarwal said, "Community participation is key to containing the virus."
"Communication messages have become a blind spot for many people, which can create low risk perception or simply go unheeded. We need to innovate our messaging and the media can play a great role in this," he added.
