KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 4 (Bernama) — Nations must come together\nto fight the misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccines and\nanti-vaccination propaganda as the world prepare national vaccination\nplans to contain the pandemic, said Foreign Minister Hishammuddin\nHussein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said as much as COVID-19 presents itself as an invincible\nenemy, the dangers of misinformation are real, and present itself as a\nsetback to the progress that had been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at his intervention at the 31st Special\nSession of the United Nations General Assembly in Response to COVID-19 on\nFriday, he said as soon as news of a vaccine breakthrough made\nheadlines around the world, misinformation about forced vaccinations, DNA\nalterations, and fake accounts made the rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGlobal fears have been intensified by the immediacy of\nround the clock news cycles and unending streams of information, both accurate\nand false, on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe chief motive for this campaign? To mislead and\nundermine trust in medicine when it matters most, and ultimately prolong this\npandemic. It\u2019s simple \u2013 misinformation costs lives, especially as we are\npreparing national vaccination plans for our people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting was held online due to the ongoing pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said public awareness on the need to vaccinate is crucial\nto prevent a climate of fear and division during the roll-out phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNegativity, as an outcome of the propaganda must be\naddressed head-on. It would be a tragedy, if, in our eagerness, dangerous\nsupporters who campaign against the whole concept of vaccination be left to\nflourish \u2013 risking damaging influence on the masses, and threatening millions\nmore lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hishammuddin also stressed Malaysia\u2019s stand that\nthe COVID-19 vaccine, once developed, must be made accessible, equitable\nand affordable to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And on that note, he said Malaysia remains committed to\nworking together with the United Nations and all its member states in\nfacing the common challenge while also remaining vigilant to overcome this\ndeadly virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA single virus has claimed the lives of over 1.4 million\npeople worldwide and has plunged us into a global economic recession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has resulted in a health, economic, and social crisis \u2013\na potent concoction which if left unmanaged, could reverse decades of progress\nwe have achieved together in the United Nations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 4 (Bernama) — Nations must come together to fight the misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccines and anti-vaccination propaganda as the world prepare national vaccination plans to contain the pandemic, said Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. He said as much as COVID-19 presents itself as an invincible enemy, the dangers of misinformation are real, and present itself as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":104245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,198,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104474"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/104245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}