Last Updated on September 9, 2021, 7:14 AM AST by Renaldo St Juste
The organisation has urged the residents of the member countries of the Pan American Health Organization to be aware and careful about the information they receive regarding the COVID-19 virus. The people of the member countries have been warned not to get affected by the misinformation spread regarding coronavirus.
While speaking during the digital briefing of COVID-19, Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr said that there were persons who were trying to doubt the pandemic’s existence and the efficacy and safety of the vaccines.
Dr Jarbas Barbosa said, “These are falsehoods… idle chatter [that] can lead to people dying. The best response to this is to always look for accurate information from reliable sources.”
Dr Barbosa highlighted the point that they are health professionals and PAHO’s web page, [where persons, including] journalists can find information about the pandemic [relating to] cases [and] technical guidelines such as how or what to do in each situation”.
Dr Barbosa said many of the inaccuracies are surfacing through social media, noting that this has resulted in an infodemic, which, he said that, could be as serious a problem as the disease if false information related to COVID-19 was shared.
He highlighted that after 18 months of the pandemic’s start in the region of the Americas, the area had experienced many infections and a number of deaths and a significant impact on countries’ health systems and economic sector.
Dr Barbosa emphasized, “So read information only from sources that you can verify the accuracy of the data presented. Always look for accurate information from websites or newspapers that you can prove the validity of. We need to take this [pandemic] very seriously.”
Renaldo St Juste, with his connection across the regions excels in providing all the regional updates from across the caribbean nation. His reporting majorly includes covering entertainment, crime and sports.
