RCC has helped a University of Queensland academic to launch a website providing impartial and evidence-based information to dispel myths about vaccinations.
Dr Tom Aechtner, a Senior Lecturer in Religion and Science at UQ’s School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, is the brains behind the UQ Vaccination Choice website, which he hopes will enable people to make informed decisions and help improve vaccination rates across Australia.
RCC web developer Jonathan Hadwen built the UQ Vaccination Choice website based on a design by Excite Media, a Brisbane-based web design company. “I was very interested in Tom's goal of providing this important science-based information in a way that would not overwhelm the reader with statistics and medical terminology,” said Jonathan.
Tom said: “Jonathan was vital to the UQ Vaccination Choice project. He translated key elements of the Excite Media design to make it a distinctly UQ offering.”
According to Tom, many Australians support immunisations, but there remains a subset of the population which expresses vaccine hesitancy.
“In fact, potentially one-third to one-half of Australian parents articulate concerns about vaccines,” he said.
“This can involve concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccinations, including fears about vaccine ingredients, overloading the immune system and the perceived likelihood of adverse vaccine-triggered side effects and ailments.”
Information about the COVID-19 vaccines will be added to the UQ Vaccination Choice website in the coming weeks.
Tom has also launched the world’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), AVAXX101, dedicated to anti-vaccination and vaccine hesitancy.
“I am in a prime position to initiate beneficial societal change, and I hope to do this by uncovering the complexities of vaccine hesitancy, and the challenges of pro-vaccine advocacy,” he said.
(Part of this article is from a UQ News story published 17 December 2020.)