Please be aware that you should always research what you hear. Do not trust Social Media, trust reliable sources.
As we read the headlines, we are all keenly aware of the multitude of questions and concerns our community members will have as the COVID situation evolves. In anticipation of such questions, a discussion took place on the listserv of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), regarding the challenges and obligations public libraries face in addressing misinformation around vaccinations. We thank Deborah Clark of the Maine State Library for putting together this sampling of resources, which may help you and help you provide information to your community:
Harvard Health Letter- General consumer article on vaccine mis- and disinformation
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ecpe/vaccines-social-media-spread-misinform...
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)- Understanding herd immunity and the COVID vaccine
https://apic.org/monthly_alerts/herd-immunity/?gclid=CjwKCAiAq8f-BRBtEiw...
WHO- myths and misconceptions about vaccines
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/vaccines-and-immunization-myths...
National Library Medicine’s Medlineplus continues to update consumer-level info on COVID vaccines as it becomes available. (NOTE: Medlineplus also has articles and tutorials on evaluating health information found on the internet.)
https://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v%3Aproject=medl...
Soon CDC will post a Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) about the COVID vaccine here https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/current-vis.html
How do you spot fake news? Here is a good guide: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluate_news/infographic
Clark added that, as a former medical and consumer health librarian, she would always caution patrons that the library provides general information for educational purposes and that everyone’s individual situation is different, so they should consult a healthcare provider for specific medical concerns. She would then attach a brief disclaimer statement to the books and articles she provided to them.