Negative Rumours About Immunisation

Rumour is often viewed as "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and about an object, event, or issue in public concern." Rumours about the negative consequence of immunisation often circulate in the community. This can cause serious problems on the effective delivery of immunisation. For example, one of the rumours in the community about immunisation may be "vaccines are a contraceptive that con troll births in the population."

When there are these kinds of rumours in the community, what you need to do is, first try to find what the rumour is, who the source of the rumour was and who is spreading it now. Once you have gathered the necessary information, arrange a meeting with opinion leaders such as local government officials, community leaders, and other health workers and then provide them with appropriate information about the immunisation.

After reaching the consensus to correct the negative rumour, train your community volunteer how to give accurate information about the immunisation. Also, you can distribute posters and printed materials which give correct information about immunisation to the public.

On top of this, in your efforts to increase immunisation coverage and decrease dropout rates, you are likely to come across various interested groups of people and organisations. At this time, you need to discuss with the contact representatives from your target population such as community leaders, parents, partners working in your area (e.g., NGOs), and special community groups like pastoralists, migrant workers, ethnic minority, homeless families and refugees.