VacunaCheck, the project that opens a communication channel with pharmacy users
Ivan Espada, Head of the Drug Information Area of the Directorate of Technical Services of the General Council of Pharmacists, he tells us Diario AS how this initiative came about.
It arose before a call from the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and WhatsApp, to which we opted, and we were chosen from among the different projects presented worldwide.
It was about a program that aims to provide fact-checking organizations around the world with resources to combat health misinformation, specifically focusing on COVID-19 vaccines.
A tool against misinformation
It is an initiative to fight misinformation and hoaxes against COVID19 vaccines, taking advantage of the strengths of the Spanish pharmacy network such as its proximity to more than 22,000 health establishments, the trust they provide and their professionalism. And all this together with the use of channels such as WhatsApp, in which a large number of hoaxes and information are shared without contrast. In other words, we fight disinformation with the same weapons, through the same channels, providing rigorous and quality information.
VacunaCheck is a joint project of the EFE Verifica team and the General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges. It is a collaborative program in which the two institutions join forces and resources to combat one of the main problems in our society: misinformation. A serious problem, relevant in all areas, but that in the world of Health has even greater consequences if possible. Good information is health and saves lives.
Who answers the doubts
The journalists of EFE Verifica, the data verification team of the leading agency in Spanish, investigate and respond to the questions from pharmacy users, with the help of experts from the Council of Pharmacists. These patients can send questions and questionable messages about vaccines that reach their mobile phone to the channel of EFE Verify in WhatsApp.
To access this channel you just have to scan the QR code that appears on VaccineCheck posters hanging in pharmacies and through the links we share on social networks.
When sending their verification requests, the EFE Verifica team of journalists will classify and investigate the proposals and, if they can be verified, they will respond to the pharmacy user with an article explaining why this content is false.
First hand information
The project aims to open a communication channel with citizens beyond the personalized attention of the pharmacy professional through WhatsApp. Technology is a channel through which misinformation spreads, but also the best weapon we have to face it. If we are all able to use these tools to find answers to our doubts and verified information, we will ensure that fewer and fewer people share and spread hoaxes that can put our health and everyone’s health at risk.
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