• by Ray Schultz , February 3, 2021

First Draft, a nonprofit coalition that provides input on how to confirm and publish content sourced on the social web, is offering a hub for sharing accurate information on the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The Vaccine Insights Hub is designed to counter health and vaccine misinformation. 

For instance, it calls out Turning Point Action cofounder Ryan Fournier for a tweet that says, “The Biden Administration lost 20 million COVID vaccines… This entire administration is a joke.” First Draft charges this tweet omits the context provided by the original source article in Politico, which states: “That’s a dilemma that predated the Biden team’s arrival.”  

In an overview, First Draft writes: “A number of right-leaning political commentators and outlets are advancing a misleading narrative about the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts, following a report detailing the challenges inherited by the new White House staff.”

In addition, the Hub provides such reports as “The COVID-19 and other vaccines: Where we’re failing to provide the right information,” and “Under the surface: COVID-19 vaccine narratives, misinformation and data deficits on social media.” 

"Launched this week, our Vaccine Insights Hub is an online resource and center of expertise, helping reporters, policy makers and influencers get ahead of emerging vaccine stories and rumors. It will feature a regularly refreshed collection of research, case studies and training, along with key topics and trends gathered from online conversations," First Draft told Publishers Daily.

The Hub also provides 30-minute online workshops, available in nine languages. The topics include: 

*How to understand vaccine misinformation 

*How to identify the key vaccine narratives 

*How to search online. 

The Hub can be used by both journalists and private citizens.  

First Draft was founded in 2015 with nine partners. It has since become part of the Partner Network of newsrooms, universities and other organizations, as well as part of the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. 

Separately, NewsGuard is partnering with companies, nonprofits and media organizations to launch a health media literacy campaign, "VaxFacts," which runs through June 30, via the HealthGuard Browser.

HealthGuard provides credibility ratings for thousands of websites that publish news about healthcare topics, flagging those spreading hoaxes about the COVID-19 vaccine and guiding users to authoritative sources. HealthGuard includes ratings for the top sources of healthcare information in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.