Science communication remains vital during a pandemic.
“Let’s say there’s a misunderstanding, or a myth or whatever that’s being circulated. If we as professionals don’t speak up, then we are lending credence to that belief system,” says Professor Ooi Eng Eong.
“So, every time I see a journalist, I feel that I should do this,” he explains. “Because if I don’t, then from where else would the public get their information?”
Ooi had good reason to feel responsible. He co-directs the Viral Research and Experimental Medicine Centre @ SingHealth Duke-NUS (ViREMiCS) and is a professor with Duke-NUS’ Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme. He also worked through the first SARS outbreak and gained extensive knowledge and experience in designing effective vaccines. His advice on SARS-CoV-2, then, came backed by decades of research, and he offered it with a desire to keep the public safe.
In the absence of a reliable source of knowledge, misinformation about SARS-CoV-2 was filling the void, spreading worldwide through social media and conspiracy websites. The situation became so grave that by February 2020, World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus noted that the world is “not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.”
During those early months, Singapore’s online spaces, too, had seen malicious rumours mushroom; rumours claiming that hospitals, MRT stations and shopping malls were SARS-CoV-2 hotspots, calling for people to avoid them.
“The science is one thing. But communicating the science and overcoming [misguided] belief — especially what comes up from social media — that’s a completely different world,” shares Ooi.
His colleague, Dr Ruklanthi de Alwis, a then-senior research fellow, points out that many of these malicious rumours used legitimate concerns to spread their misinformation.
“Just going in and saying, no you’re wrong is not the way to win this,” says de Alwis. “So, I really tried to listen to their concerns first because maybe with some I could still reason.”
“And not tackling that part would eventually hinder us. Because someday we won’t be able to get the vaccine into enough people; we won’t be able to get it in fast enough. And if it’s not fast enough, we won’t come out from this outbreak,” adds Ooi.
“There’s a small pocket of the population that was hesitant; they were resistant to taking vaccines,” adds Ooi’s colleague at ViREMiCS, Dr Eugenia Ong. “Because often you have one or two people who write something, and send it out on social media. And you know social media. It gets passed on from one to a billion other people.”
Part of this public propensity for rumour-mongering and confusion during the early days stemmed from three simple facts: the new virus spread easily and exponentially; the world had no treatments, never mind a vaccine; and levels of trust in governments and science varied.
“I started taking the time to explain. I tried to engage,” says de Alwis. “I made sure that the science was true and yet simplified in a manner that anyone could understand.”
It was in this spirit that the three of them along with then- Associate Professor Jenny Low and former colleague, Dr Esther Gan, shared their experience of developing the vaccine in a documentary, called “ The Vaccine Quest”.
“I was always happy when someone asked me about vaccines and whether they should take them. It gave me a chance to explain,” says Ong.
While the documentary may have been one of the more in-depth pieces of media coverage, the team were joined by other faculty members — including Associate Professor Ashley St John and Professor Wang Linfa — in the fight against misinformation.
But most importantly?
“If you don’t know where the information came from, and if you don’t know if it’s true,” says Ong, “Don’t spread it."