Events raise awareness of vaccination

Otago Museum staff joined forces with the University of Otago yesterday in a series of hands-on events aimed at raising community awareness about Covid-19 vaccination.

Museum visitor experience and science engagement manager Dr Craig Grant said the museum’s science engagement team and the university’s Science of Medicines project team had used a container-based mobile "Lab in a Box" facility in Dunedin’s Octagon.

"The purpose is to try to inform the public about why vaccines are indeed safe, and important to keep ourselves, our families and our wider community safe from coronavirus," Dr Grant said.

The joint effort involved the use of a portable version of the museum’s coronavirus touchscreen exhibition, and a range of hands-on demonstrations and child and family-friendly information developed by the university team, he said.

Dr Karyn Maclennan, of the university’s Ngai Tahu Maori Health Research Unit, who leads the medicines project, said that up to 100 people had visited in the first two and a-half hours after the mobile laboratory had opened at noon.

"It’s been really positive.

"We’ve had lots of conversations with people of all ages, ranging from people who are positive about the vaccine and people who are feeling hesitant, or who have got questions," she said.

Discussions had included the risks and benefits of the vaccine and how it worked, she said.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz