How can language influence communication on complex issues such as vaccine hesitancy? coOPERATOR aims precisely to gather information on vaccine hesitancy and vaccination campaigns, using theoretical frameworks from the behavioral sciences and mapping the needs of each country.
On the 8th and 9th July, the coOPERATOR project partners met in Athens, Greece, to discuss our project’s developments. We were thrilled to hear from our project coordinators, Technology University Cyprus (CUT), shared that coOPERATOR had reached the attention and interest from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and a representative would attend our next meetings.
In order to further the visibility of the project, the Publications Committee shared a publication plan for scientific publications following the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines. Our publications should all be open access, so we were thrilled to hear about that publishing leader ELSEVIER has open access agreements with various institutions, including with our partners. We also discussed presenting our findings at various scientific international conferences. CESIE ETS is proud to confirm that we are part of the coOPERATOR Publication Committee as well as the Ethics Committee. Finally, we’re thrilled to confirm that the coOPERATOR website https://cooperatorvax.eu/ will be available in all partner languages in autumn 2024.
At this meeting, CESIE ETS was able to make significant contributions concerning the politics of language. We pointed out that words like “trust” and “better communication” do not suffice when tackling a problem as complex as vaccine hesitation. Instead, we need to examine how these words replicate hierarchies of power: most people want to have ownership over their bodies and decide what vaccine and medication they take and when. Speaking to the partner consortium, we advocated for being more sensitive in the words we use: if we want to truly understand why people are vaccine hesitant or outright reject vaccinations, then we need to respect their ownership over their own bodies. The word “expert” instead of “doctor” can create a complicated relationship of power between people and doctors. We must be careful with the words we use in order to do our job well. This point was very well received by the consortium, and CESIE ETS was invited to review the language used in the policy materials produced by coOPERATOR.
It was a tremendously successful meeting, reinforcing the energetic and collaborative spirit we felt at our first meeting. The consortium proves time and again to truly care about the project and want to learn from each other. We’re already looking forward to our next in-person meeting in January 2025 in Pisa, Italy.
Follow us to learn all the news about coOPERATOR or contact Ritti Soncco: ritti.soncco@cesie.org.
About the project
coOPERATOR: Developing a Country-Observatory for sharing best practises for vaccination promotion is a project funded by EU4Health, European Commission.
Partners
- Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou (Cyprus, coordinator)
- European Public Health Alliance (Belgium)
- CSI Center for Social Innovation Ltd (Cyprus)
- Ministerio da Saude – Republica Portuguesa (Portugal)
- Universita di Pisa (Italy)
- Computer Solutions SA (Greece)
- CESIE (Italy)
For further information
Read more about the project, visit the web site https://cooperatorvax.eu/ and follow us on Facebook and Linkedin.
Contact Ritti Soncco: ritti.soncco@cesie.org.
