VANCOUVER -- The social media app TikTok isn't all viral pranks and teen drama.
A B.C.-based instructor who is leading research on COVID-19 is using the platform to dispel rumours and educate the public.
When Dr. Anna Blakney isn't working as an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia's school of biomedical engineering, she's creating content for TikTok.
Her videos include explanations on how vaccines work – "We inject RNA into your muscle, then your cells make a viral protein" – while she dances in the background to grab the audience's attention. Others show the doctor's face over brightly coloured graphics as she explains the differences between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna RNA vaccines and the newer AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine.
In a recent post set to an Eminem song, Blakney addresses rumours including that some vaccines contain fetus cells or affect fertility.
She also says rumours that vaccines contain microchips and that there isn't enough safety data collected yet are false.
Her account has hundreds of thousands of followers and nearly three million likes.
Her hope is to improve vaccine literacy and overall understanding by helping young people get information straight from one of the sources.
