How can government combat misinformation around the COVID-19 vaccine?

Conspiracy theories have been rife throughout the pandemic, from suggestions that the virus is caused by 5G technology through to ideas that vaccinations will implant chips into our arms. But what does this mean for vaccination rollout? How many people will refuse to have the vaccine based on conspiracy theories and misinformation? And how can the government combat this misinformation and encourage mass vaccination?

Join Policy@Manchester at 2pm on Thursday, 4 March 2021 for a panel event discussing some of the causes of vaccine hesitancy and mistrust in the new COVID-19 vaccines. The event will be chaired by Dorothy Byrne, Editor-At-Large at Channel Four, and following the initial panel discussion there will be an audience Q&A.

Speakers include Dr Halima Begum, Chief Executive of The Runnymede Trust; Julian Knight MP, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and the Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation; and Peter Knight, Professor of American Studies at The University of Manchester and Chair of the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories network.

To register your interest, email policy@manchester.ac.uk and they will send you joining details ahead of the event. For more information, visit the Policy@Manchester website