In searching for information about health misinformation, I looked to find some information on vaccine false information. In 2019 the World Health Organization warned that vaccine hesitancy was on of the top threats to global health (WHO, 2018). Bossert, A., & Jongman-Sereno, K. (2024) noted that Covid-19 vaccines could have prevented over 300,000 deaths between January 2021 and April 2022. Despite information such as this, vaccines hesitancy has been a long-standing issue. The United States was one of the last high-income countries to have a high rate of vaccine compliance. Researchers believe a reason for this is because of all the vaccine misinformation floating around on social media by “anti-vaxxers”.
Antivaccination attitude may become a public health concern, as documented by WHO, as changing people’s minds can be difficult as there is a trend in this misinformation and due to social media algorithms. Bianchi, F. P., & Tafuri, S. (2023) noted that social network and other digital platform feed algorithms, such as seen on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, can influence content promotion by considering users’ previous views, searches, preferences and attitudes. The volume of Twitter users in Italy who posted or viewed anti-vax content increased from 23% in 2017-2017 to 30% in 2018 (Bianchi, F. P., & Tafuri, S., 2023). Some of the misinformation passed around about vaccines was done to create a lack of trust in pharmaceutical and health agencies and presented false information to create fears around the impacts of vaccines including immune system overload and “mind control” and mandatory vaccinations. (Bianchi, F. P., & Tafuri, S., 2023).
There was a spike in “anti-vax” during the Covid-19 pandemic due to an increase in fake news and conspiracies around where the virus originated and research on the vaccine. The Public Health Agency of Canada (2020) noted that the consequences of vaccine deniers and false information around vaccines is serious and can lead to negative impacts on health decisions, including vaccine acceptance, and on trust in immunization advice from public health and/or healthcare professionals. In 2020 The Public Health Agency of Canada (2020) recommended that to counteract the vaccine misinformation or anti-vax propaganda, we can encourage others to go to websites and read information or watch videos with science-based information about vaccines and share information on social media and other avenues, that includes proper information.
Bianchi, F. P., & Tafuri, S. (2023). Spreading of misinformation on mass media and digital platforms regarding vaccines. A systematic scoping review on stakeholders, policymakers, and sentiments/behavior of Italian consumers. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2023.2259398
Bossert, A., & Jongman-Sereno, K. (2024). Misinformation beliefs, intellectual humility, and vaccine attitudes and status. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 29(2), 158–167. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.jn29.2.158
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2020, December 4). Vaccine misinformation found online and what to do about it. Public Health Agency of Canada reports and publications. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2020-46/issue-11-12-november-5-2020/vaccine-misinformation-found-online.html
World Health Organization. (2018). Ten threats to global health in 2019. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019
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