This article found a series of events on the Internet by only 12 people spreading leading claims about vaccines. These 12 people are influencers with multiple accounts on various social media platforms. They are spreading false information about the vaccine. These include anti-vaccine activists, alternative health entrepreneurs and physicians. Most support natural healing, and many think the virus is a giant lie. Last September, the World Health Organization named “vaccine hesitating-one of its top 10 global health threats of the year-a sign of how widespread anti-vaccine sentiment is. Every back-to-school season, society faces tension and resistance from countless families unwilling to vaccinate their children. In the endless noisy room of the Internet, science seems to have become a tiny voice, on the verge of losing its platform. Everyone can now proclaim their own “subjective truth.”
And spokesperson McAlister said that in total, and spokesperson Kevin McAlister said 16 million items were deleted in violation of COVID-19 to prevent people from seeing them. But based on what I found online, an anti-vaccine AD study by Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and the University of Maryland shows that 54% of anti-vaccine ads on Facebook are organized by powerful funders. The ads were false and misleading, such as “A healthy 14-week-old baby will die within 24 hours after eight doses of the vaccine”. Facebook’s algorithms allow ads to be targeted at people who have concerns about vaccines. An AD typically reaches 5,000 to 50,000 users, so you can imagine how hard it is to correct that misconception.
But while social media has taken some tough steps to deal with misinformation, people may still have more or less less faith in vaccines. In a survey of American parents, Indiana University sociologist Jessica Karako found that more than a quarter did not plan to vaccinate their children. In fact, there has been a long tradition of opposition to vaccines, not just COVID-19, but around the world and especially in the United States. The American people have experienced the bitter consequences of rejecting vaccines. Measles was eradicated in the United States 20 years ago by mandatory vaccination, and it has gone 12 months without a case. In recent years, the rise of anti-vaxxers and the government’s freedom to vaccinate led to another measles outbreak in the United States in 2019. In any case, vaccinations do more good than harm in terms of health.
It is pretty wild to me that just 12 people can have the ability to spread information so false, so far. Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but when it comes to professional people, like physicians, to be spreading misleading medical information, it is bewildering that it is allowed. I understand hesitance and fears, but the fact that ideas about an infant dying within 24 hours of the vaccine were being spread is really scary. I think that the amount of misleading information during the height of COVID—both the underestimates and overestimates—should signal to us how easy it is. Especially during dire situations as a global health pandemic, the truth is not only important, but critical to survival. Hence, although it is unfortunate, it has made me much more wary of believing everything I see online. This poses an issue, though, for us and our generation as most of us get MOST of our information online. It is really scary, because the border between what is real and what isn’t is blurred.