Public health authorities and social media companies are fighting to combat coronavirus misinformation as they try to ensure Americans are vaccinated against coronavirus.
Health experts say at least 70 percent of the country needs to be vaccinated to get herd immunity and completely crush the outbreak that has killed more than 300,000 Americans.
National surveys show that a growing number of Americans are willing to get a coronavirus vaccine, but that some populations, especially black and Latino people, are reluctant.
Federal officials are launching a 95 percent effective Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, and the Food and Drug Administration withdrew a second Moderna vaccine on Friday that is almost as effective in preventing COVID-19 cases.
“It would be terrible, with a tool as good as this, for people not to use it,” Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciTrump stays out of the camera while the vaccine is distributed Vaccination is not a complete answer to COVID-19 Fauci urges Americans to “step on the plate” and get vaccinated MORE, the country’s leading infectious disease doctor, said in a December 15 interview with the NPR.
The reasons for skepticism vary. Some people have cited what they called the politicization of a vaccine by the Trump administration, despite denials from officials that politics played a role in rapid development.
Others are based on past and present problems of American medicine with patients from minority groups.
“You have to acknowledge the historical mistakes that have happened. And then you have to specifically address those concerns, ”said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Authorities must dispel legitimate concerns that make people hesitate, while also stopping waves of deliberate misinformation from anti-fascists and conspiracy theorists.
Benjamin said it is easier to address the concerns of people who doubt, rather than those who deliberately believe and often deal with conspiracy theories.
“You know, what do you do with the person who doesn’t think this disease exists? Some of these people will face reality when they, a family member or someone they know, get really sick. And you will never convince some of them, ”said Benjamin.
Vaccine communities have long been some of the most active and engaged online, meeting in public and private spaces to share falsehoods about the risk of vaccination.
These groups have been overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has eroded confidence in traditional institutions and left millions with few options for social interaction beyond the Internet.
Paul Barrett, deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University, told The Hill that the biggest source of coronavirus vaccine misinformation is “the transformation of longtime vaccine activists.”
“There is a considerable basis that existed before anyone had heard of COVID-19,” he explained. “These groups have been fully activated by the current crisis.”
The same mistrust in institutions that has driven anti-vaccine communities has also led thousands of people to conspiracy theories.
QAnon, whose followers believe President Trump
Donald Trump: Trump signs bill to keep government open amid U.S. relief talks to shut down ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trends of two Russian consulates on social media after the new name of the MORE Space Force is working to expose a cabal of shadow elites to the media and the government that manage child and sex trafficking rings, has been a clear beneficiary of this slide towards conspiratorial thinking.
QAnon’s growth could complicate the herd’s immunity, as its supporters increase COVID-19 vaccines, such as being administered with a microchip to monitor and track citizens, or that Bill Gates is the responsible for the coronavirus.
“These conspiracy theories are incorrect, but I am very worried that they may break into the mainstream. And if we have people who will not be vaccinated, it makes it much harder for us to get the herd’s immunity through vaccination and therefore end the epidemic, ”said Leana Wen, a professor of public health at George Washington University who he previously served as Baltimore health commissioner.
“So it’s really a matter of life or death here,” Wen said.
Public health officials will also have to contend with a more widespread source of vaccine misinformation: conservative media and supporters of President Trump.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 42% of Republicans probably would not be vaccinated against coronavirus or definitely not.
Vice President Pence and his wife Karen were vaccinated live on television on Friday, in an effort to save the partisan division. But Trump was remarkably absent.
Wen said it would be helpful for Trump to speak out and receive the shot.
“There are many millions of Americans today for whom the most credible messenger is President Trump. And so for President Trump to speak, it’s very important to correct misinformation, ”Wen said.
Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the severity of the pandemic and mocked the use of masks to limit its spread.
According to a report from Cornell University, 38% of all articles containing misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic published between Jan. 1 and May 26 featured Trump and some sort of misleading claim he has shared.
Congressional lawmakers who support Trump have also said things that could discourage vaccine use.
Rep. Ken Buck
Kenneth (Ken) Robert BuckAntitrust, content moderation to dominate technology policy in 2021 Organizations urge congressional leaders to prioritize technology antitrust report Techlash rhetoric: a source of clarity or confusion? MONTH (R-Colo.) He said he would not take the vaccine because he is “more concerned about the side effects of the vaccine than the disease” in a Fox Business interview Friday morning. His office later clarified that Buck believes those at risk should “receive the vaccine immediately.”
The right-wing media have also been proponents of coronavirus misinformation. One analysis found that between February 1 and March 23, right-leaning outlets published nearly 4,000 items with defective information about the disease, while major outlets had only 1,500.
Social media platforms, one of the key vectors of health misinformation, have attempted to eliminate misinformation.
Facebook earlier this month said it would begin removing posts with false claims about the “safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects” of coronavirus vaccines.
Twitter earlier this week said it would begin tagging and forcing users to withdraw posts that “advance harmful, false or misleading narratives” about COVID-19 vaccines. YouTube in October announced a similar policy.
Beyond restricting existing coronavirus misinformation, Barrett said platforms should work to drive information about vaccines from reliable sources. Many of them have already been doing so.
Still, health experts said tech companies can only go that far.
“If anyone has any doubts about the vaccines, I’m not sure what will change their mind is an ad on Facebook,” Wen said.
The important thing is outreach.
“I think what can help change your mind is to see how your family members get the vaccine, what their pastor talks about, and how their parishioners get the vaccine,” Wen said.