Government sets up ‘myth-busting’ unit to take on Covid misinformation

Announcing the arrival of the first 300,00 doses of the new AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia on 28th Feb, Hunt revealed the departments of home affairs and health had “quietly” established the unit last year amid concerns about misinformation.

The federal government has established a “myth-busting unit” to address what health minister Greg Hunt has called “plainly ridiculous” misinformation surrounding the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in Australia, amid increasing concerns about the spread of false information and conspiracy theories during the pandemic.

Australia started its vaccine program on 22nd Feb with the first injections of the Pfizer vaccine.

Almost 30,000 Australians had been vaccinated since 22nd Feb, including 8110 aged care and disability residents throughout 117 care facilities.

Meanwhile, the government has kicked off a second $31 million public information campaign on the COVID-19 vaccination program.

The government’s initial advertising campaign launched in January focused on informing the Australian community about the TGA’s world-leading independent approval process.

Authorities are increasingly grappling with the growth and impact of conspiratorial thinking during the pandemic as vaccines which depend on widespread take-up to stop the spread of the virus are rolled out.

In Australia, research released by the government earlier on March found only 64% of people said they would “definitely” get the vaccine, though authorities remained confident that figure would rise significantly as the rollout progressed.