Earlier this month, I was one of the speakers at a medical conference for Dutch virologists and other infectious disease specialists. I was there to speak about the role of social media in the communication of health science and policy information in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. My presentation drew mostly on the findings of the article Prof. Jose van Dijck and I wrote last year, which traced the Dutch media discussion about the pandemic measures through the early months of the pandemic’s outbreak in the Netherlands.
There was an impressive lineup of speakers at the event, including some of the figures who had become household names in the Netherlands because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the internationally acclaimed expert, Marion Koopmans, who is not only on the national Outbreak Management Team in the Netherlands but is also an advisor to the WHO. She presented some of her current work investigating the origins of Sars-Cov-2. It was a fascinating experience to be a part of the convention this year.
Donya Alinejad 