Back-to-school townhall for parents meant to cut through COVID-19 misinformation

VANCOUVER -

Parents, students and educators with questions about the second back-to-school season of the COVID-19 pandemic will get a chance to ask a health-care professional directly.

A panel of doctors will be making themselves available during a virtual townhall hosted Tuesday evening.

Among those doctors is child psychologist Vanessa Lapointe, who told CTV Morning Live that stress and anxiety are still around, even though it's not the first time kids have gone back to the classroom during the pandemic.

"We've been in a really interesting time these last 18 months or so, and there's been a lot of information floating around, some of which is really fed by the 'fear factory,'" she said in an interview Monday morning.

"We really just want to make sure that parents have access to valid and reliable information, that they can be really stepping into their role as parents, so kids can just be at ease and can flow back into this school year without a lot of angst being fuelled by misinformation."

Other members of the panel at the free townhall include an immunologist and an infectious disease specialist.

"Our expectation is that parents have lots of questions about the vaccine, about safety of classrooms, these kinds of things, and also, of course, the mental health and wellbeing of our children. It's been a real ride," she said.

The event, which begins at 5 p.m., was organized by ScienceUpFirst, a national initiative working with scientists and other experts to combat misinformation.

The group's current focus is the novel coronavirus and vaccines.

Those interested in attending the event over Zoom are asked to register online in advance. 

Watch the full interview with Vanessa Lapointe above for more information, including potential triggers of anxiety students may face this September.