Ravi Trivedi, Class of 2024
As COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed throughout the country, so has misinformation about the new vaccines. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has marked vaccine hesitancy to be among one of the top ten threats to global health (WHO 2020). Theories range from the long-debunked conspiracy that vaccines cause autism to claims that Bill Gates is using the vaccine to insert microchips into people’s brains (Lynas 2020). Perhaps the most damaging misinformation was spread during World Immunization Week when it was claimed that a volunteer for the COVID-19 vaccine (Oxford University) had died (McCoy et al. 2020). While this story later turned out to be entirely false, it greatly damaged the reputation of vaccines and made people much more hesitant to take it. In order to better understand the anti-vax community, misinformation, and anti vaxxers, a fervent group against vaccinations, it’s important to first understand why vaccines were created and how they are pivotal today.
Vaccines help build up one's immunity against particular pathogens (CDC 2020). This happens through emulating an infection (flu, meningitis, pneumonia, etc.) and helps one to build resistance against that disease or in this case, virus. Although its side effects mimic symptoms of sickness, it actually helps the body to discern a certain disease and prepare to fight it off. The reason why it is so pertinent for the majority of the population to be immunized is that it prevents widespread infection and allows protection to those who are unable to take the vaccine including pregnant women or young children.
Nevertheless, the anti-vax community has still remained fervent and seemingly unstoppable in their beliefs. The anti-vax movement began in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, gastroenterologist and father of the anti-vax movement, published research in a prominent medical journal linking both autism and the measles vaccine (Omer 2020). Although the research had later been invalidated, it was already too late. Vaccination rates had plummeted immensely across Europe and the movement was gaining fame all across the world. Today, the anti-vax movement is still gaining popularity, but now online. Social media has been a popular outlet for anti-vaxxers to voice their message to people who remain unsure of the COVID-19 vaccine and to sustain their movement (Megget 2020). Recent studies have shown that through Facebook alone, the movement reached approximately 50,000 people. Furthermore, the studies found that these sorts of advertisements have created greater engagement than typical Facebook ads, leading to greater interaction. However, it’s important to recognize how detrimental such ads could be. Due to the algorithms embedded in Facebook’s software, there will be and currently is personalized advertising that directly advertises to vulnerable groups of people who would be more prone to believing such news (Burki 2020). With over 31 million people following anti-vaccine groups on Facebook alone and almost a billion dollars raised for misinformation campaigns, it’s first important to recognize the growing harm this presents, especially during a time where COVID-19 runs rampant. Additionally, such misinformation doesn’t just stop at Facebook. Anti-vaccination books have risen to the top of various search lists on Amazon and other book stores (Turner and Fouquet 2020). While companies such as Facebook claim to use fact-checkers, a recent report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) proves otherwise, with only 20 out of 912 anti-vaccination posts actually removed (Burki 2020). Such
misinformation can prove catastrophic William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine, says as mothers today unknowingly detain their children from getting vaccinated (Schaffner 2020).
While it is uncertain exactly how misinformation and the anti-vaccination movement affect the novel COVID-19 vaccine, a recent YouGov poll shows that in only August 2020, 42% of Americans expressed willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available (Vara 2020). Additionally, a poll from the Pew Research Center in September found a 50% decline in the number of people willing to take the vaccine if it became available from just May-September 2020 (Funk et. al 2020). These numbers seem to correlate with the conspiracy theories blowing up, particularly on social media. It is time to take action and fight back against such misinformation. Families and people across the world have been hurt time and time again by this movement. With COVID-19 death and infection rates spiking, it is important to hold
anti-vaxxers accountable and to work to mitigate the falsehoods surrounding the vaccines.
References:
1. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30227-2/fulltext
2. http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/combatting-covid-19-disinformation-on-online-platforms-d854ec48/#section-d1e139
3. https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/
4. https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIibvt0oWk6gIVCDdgCh3d1gYnEAAYASAAEgLIpfD_BwE
5. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html
6. https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2184
7. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-19-vaccines-face-varied-powerful-misinformation-movement-online-n1249378
8. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/jsojry0vph/econTabReport.pdf
9. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/09/17/u-s-public-now-divided-over-whether-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/
10. https://www.lbbc.org/news-opinion/what-think-about-coming-covid-19-vaccine-william-schaffner-md
11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-trial death/2020/10/21/3f5bedac-13c0-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html
12. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/pregnant-women/need-to-know.html
13. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02989-9
Vaccines help build up one's immunity against particular pathogens (CDC 2020). This happens through emulating an infection (flu, meningitis, pneumonia, etc.) and helps one to build resistance against that disease or in this case, virus. Although its side effects mimic symptoms of sickness, it actually helps the body to discern a certain disease and prepare to fight it off. The reason why it is so pertinent for the majority of the population to be immunized is that it prevents widespread infection and allows protection to those who are unable to take the vaccine including pregnant women or young children.
Nevertheless, the anti-vax community has still remained fervent and seemingly unstoppable in their beliefs. The anti-vax movement began in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, gastroenterologist and father of the anti-vax movement, published research in a prominent medical journal linking both autism and the measles vaccine (Omer 2020). Although the research had later been invalidated, it was already too late. Vaccination rates had plummeted immensely across Europe and the movement was gaining fame all across the world. Today, the anti-vax movement is still gaining popularity, but now online. Social media has been a popular outlet for anti-vaxxers to voice their message to people who remain unsure of the COVID-19 vaccine and to sustain their movement (Megget 2020). Recent studies have shown that through Facebook alone, the movement reached approximately 50,000 people. Furthermore, the studies found that these sorts of advertisements have created greater engagement than typical Facebook ads, leading to greater interaction. However, it’s important to recognize how detrimental such ads could be. Due to the algorithms embedded in Facebook’s software, there will be and currently is personalized advertising that directly advertises to vulnerable groups of people who would be more prone to believing such news (Burki 2020). With over 31 million people following anti-vaccine groups on Facebook alone and almost a billion dollars raised for misinformation campaigns, it’s first important to recognize the growing harm this presents, especially during a time where COVID-19 runs rampant. Additionally, such misinformation doesn’t just stop at Facebook. Anti-vaccination books have risen to the top of various search lists on Amazon and other book stores (Turner and Fouquet 2020). While companies such as Facebook claim to use fact-checkers, a recent report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) proves otherwise, with only 20 out of 912 anti-vaccination posts actually removed (Burki 2020). Such
misinformation can prove catastrophic William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine, says as mothers today unknowingly detain their children from getting vaccinated (Schaffner 2020).
While it is uncertain exactly how misinformation and the anti-vaccination movement affect the novel COVID-19 vaccine, a recent YouGov poll shows that in only August 2020, 42% of Americans expressed willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available (Vara 2020). Additionally, a poll from the Pew Research Center in September found a 50% decline in the number of people willing to take the vaccine if it became available from just May-September 2020 (Funk et. al 2020). These numbers seem to correlate with the conspiracy theories blowing up, particularly on social media. It is time to take action and fight back against such misinformation. Families and people across the world have been hurt time and time again by this movement. With COVID-19 death and infection rates spiking, it is important to hold
anti-vaxxers accountable and to work to mitigate the falsehoods surrounding the vaccines.
References:
1. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30227-2/fulltext
2. http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/combatting-covid-19-disinformation-on-online-platforms-d854ec48/#section-d1e139
3. https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/
4. https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIibvt0oWk6gIVCDdgCh3d1gYnEAAYASAAEgLIpfD_BwE
5. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html
6. https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2184
7. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-19-vaccines-face-varied-powerful-misinformation-movement-online-n1249378
8. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/jsojry0vph/econTabReport.pdf
9. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/09/17/u-s-public-now-divided-over-whether-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/
10. https://www.lbbc.org/news-opinion/what-think-about-coming-covid-19-vaccine-william-schaffner-md
11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-trial death/2020/10/21/3f5bedac-13c0-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html
12. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/pregnant-women/need-to-know.html
13. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02989-9
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