The Deputy Minister of Health, Irini Agapidaki, participated as a keynote speaker at the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association’s conference on “Vaccines: Safety, Innovation & Economic Value in the Public Health System”.

The conference highlighted the decisive role of vaccinations in the protection of Public Health, but also the modern challenges related to misinformation.

Creation of an office to detect and deal with fake news at EODY

Referring to the modern challenges, the Deputy Minister emphasized that “Misinformation surrounding vaccines has evolved into a serious threat to public health”.

According to Ms. Agapidaki, “the World Health Organization is talking about a new pandemic – the pandemic of fake news. The world is tired, often confused, and has difficulty distinguishing truth from false information. It is our duty to restore trust in science and support the citizen with reliable information.”

In this context, Mrs. Agapidaki announced the creation of “Office of Detecting and Countering Fake News for Public Health Matters“, to the National Public Health Organization (EODY), which will function as permanent monitoring, analysis and valid information mechanism.

This new Office will operate on an ongoing basis, with the mission of identifying, evaluating, and disproving in a science-based manner the false news circulating about health, vaccines, and preventive interventions.

At the same time, EODY will issue weekly newsletter for fake news, which will accompany the Organization’s regular epidemiological report.

This bulletin will be available to health professionals, journalists, pharmacists, doctors, but also to citizens, so that everyone has immediate access to valid and documented answers. This initiative aims to strengthen transparency, protect public debate and promote health literacy of the population.

The decisive role of vaccinations

Among other things, Ms. Agapidaki underlined that “after the COVID-19 pandemic, we may have “forgotten” the importance of vaccinations”, recalling that according to the World Health Organization, vaccines are one of the most efficient and effective public health interventions. “Thanks to vaccinations, humanity has gained decades of life and quality of life. It is the right of all citizens to have access to vaccination, regardless of their place of residence or socio-economic background,” he noted.

The deputy minister also referred to the important digital reforms that strengthen the transparency and reliability of vaccination coverage in the country, such as the Digital Health Book, which allows the electronic recording of all childhood vaccinations, as well as the integration of adult vaccinations in the Electronic Health File. “These tools allow us to have a reliable picture of the vaccination coverage of the population and identify the gaps in time so that we can better protect our most vulnerable fellow citizens,” he underlined.

In addition, he also focused on the need to strengthen the health literacy of the population: “Health literacy is not just knowledge; it is a skill. It is the ability to understand, evaluate and use health information to improve our lives. This requires trust, rapport and ongoing education – and in this pharmacists have a critical role to play.”