Before COVID-19, it would have been easy to imagine that producing and distributing an effective vaccine would have been the biggest challenge of fighting a global pandemic. But as it’s turned out, some of the biggest challenges of the COVID-19 virus have been public health challenges – getting people to behave in ways that reduce the spread of disease and getting them to take the vaccine in places where it’s now available.

At an UpNext session at the HIMSS21 Digital conference next week (moderated by yours truly), HIMSS will convene voices from some of the major public information platforms to discuss the role their companies have had to play in the management of public information – and misinformation – over the last year and a half.

Facebook Head of Health KX Jin will speak about, not only Facebook, but also WhatsApp, which has been used in AsiaPac countries like Singapore and Indonesia to keep the public up to date on the virus and to help healthcare workers and others get vaccinated.

Dr. Garth Graham, director and global head of healthcare and public health at Google/YouTube, will speak about how YouTube thinks about its public health role, both as an explainer for things like mRNA and as a conduit to help influencers share their experiences with vaccination.

Finally, Darius Walker, senior vice president and senior executive producer of CBSN, CBS News' 24-hour streaming network, will discuss the viewpoint of traditional media and how his team thought about things like message consistency and the importance of trustworthy, local voices.

I’m very excited to share a lively discussion with such high-profile changemakers from the tech world, and I hope you’ll join us on Thursday, Aug. 12, at 5:30 p.m. ET for “Managing the Message – Big Tech and Media Discuss Misinformation.”