Africa-based journalists reporting on Covid-19 received a very necessary “shot in the arm" in the form of a recent training programme aimed at better equipping them to report on COVID-19 vaccines.
The online Vaccine Science 101 course was co-hosted by the Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care (CEBHC) and the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, an independent media organisation that focuses on health and social justice issues across the continent.
The course was set up on the premise that the COVID-19 pandemic “turned all journalists into health reporters overnight – but without equipping them with the science and health knowledge to report accurately."
It took account of the reality that, very few media organisations have been able to fund the appointment of specialist health journalists – and that an introductory course on the various aspects of vaccine science that are dominating the headlines, was needed.
“Journalists report on many aspects of life and not all journalists are used to reporting on health and science. When COVID-19 started last year, health became the main news. This course was aimed at closing the gap or building capacity for those journalists to understand more about COVID-19," said Anel Schoonees, senior lecturer in epidemiology and biostatistics, who played the role of teaching assistant on the programme.
The content for the two-week introductory course was developed by Bhekisisa and Prof Taryn Young from the CEBHC with the aim of giving journalists an introductory look at aspects of vaccine science dominating recent headlines. The course was presented by experts from across the continent. Among the 16 African countries represented in the course were Tunisia, Guinea, Kenya and South Africa.
About 100 journalists enrolled and there were about 40 participants in each lecture. The course participants attended four 90-minute lectures, including question and answer sessions. The lectures covered a range of subjects relating to vaccines.
Prof Hassan Mahomed, public health expert in the Western Cape Department of Health and chair of the Western Cape Covid-19 vaccine expert advisory group, kicked off the course with a session on vaccine development.
He provided information on how a vaccine works and how it forms part of public health strategies. He also gave an overview of the approach for testing effectiveness and safety as well as the available Covid-19 vaccines.
Dr Richard Mihigo, director of the vaccines and immunization programme at the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for Africa, spoke about vaccine programme implementation including how vaccine programmes are implemented, cold chain management, herd immunity and community uptake.
Prof Mary-Ann Davies, public health specialist in the Western Cape Department of Health and director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research at UCT, spoke about variants - why we have them and how they impact vaccine development; and in the fourth session, Prof Charles Shey Wiysonge, chair of the SA National Advisory group on Immunisation's vaccine hesitancy working group, spoke about vaccine procurement mechanisms such as COVAX and the African Union's COVID-19 vaccination programme.
According to Schoonees, the course was a big success and received excellent feedback from journalists across the continent.
Mia Malan, the founding editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa, who first approached the CEBHC with a view to collaborating on the course said it is clear that most of 2021's Covid-19 reporting will focus on vaccines “because we're now in the process of distributing them.
“Vaccine science, distribution and procurement mechanisms can be complex and confusing — particularly for journalists who aren't specialised health reporters, but have now been forced to report on COVID-19 because of the magnitude of the pandemic," she said.
“We've had great feedback from journalists who participated in the course. They feel more familiar with the science and distribution requirements of vaccines and say this knowledge hasn't only equipped them to better understand how vaccines work, but also to better hold their countries' governments to account to procure vaccines and distribute them effectively.
“What the journalists particularly liked is that they are able to watch the sessions again and that they have access to all the PowerPoint presentations that we sent them after each session. We don't have a specific follow-up course planned for now, but what we do have planned is a webinar for August on the quality of health journalism in Africa and an online discussion in June for journalists and policy makers in Africa on what COVID-19 has taught us about universal access to healthcare."
All the material from the course is available here: https://bhekisisa.org/resources-for-journalists/2021-04-09-the-jabs-that-could-save-us-an-introduction-to-covid-vaccines-for-journos/
Photo credit: PIXABAY
