The sessions did open up a window of opportunity for the disabled communities to comprehend COVID-19 vaccinations and related information and processes. According to RMIT School of Communication & Design lecturer and project lead Dr Abdul Rohman, "Providing equitable information for people with disabilities is essential to move forward from the pandemic."
The participants shared their unvaccinated and vaccinated stories, and put questions revolving around the effectiveness of vaccines, the vaccine mixed dose, complications after injection, the requirement of the 3rd dose, and so forth.
Besides consultations with the doctors, representatives of the Associations of People with Disabilities also issued clear and robust recommendations on the basis of accessible and understandable information and support networks as well to ensure that governments comply with their obligations to persons with disabilities with regard to priority access to COVID-19 vaccinations.
The following information session will be organised on 9 January 2022, focussing on the 3rd dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and related information.
The events are part of the project titled "Modeling vaccine-related information to create hybrid information hubs for people with disabilities in Vietnam and Indonesia," led by RMIT University, supported by the Vaccine Confidence Fund and Global Impact.
About the project:
The project aims to develop information hubs that combine social media and non-social media platforms to increase vaccine uptake among PwD. The hubs will connect PwD with reliable information sources, medical practitioners and become spaces where they can share their concerns and experiences before and after vaccinations, in addition to understanding the reasons of those who reject vaccinations.
According to Dr Abdul Rohman, in broader terms, this research project will contribute to harnessing the usefulness of social media for mitigating vaccine hesitancy resulting from the limited availability of vaccination guidelines. Thus, gradually mainstreaming disability rights in epidemic preparedness, response, and recovery and strengthening protections to PwD in Southeast Asia.
In Vietnam, the project activities at the community level in partnership with Hanoi Independent Living Center (ILC), The Association of People with Disabilities in Ha Nam, and Thai Binh provinces to implement the information hubs.
Story: Dr Abdul Rohman and Thuy Le
