Online misinformation about vaccines harm patients, undermines trust in science, and places additional burdens on our healthcare system through reduced vaccine uptake. All in all, it is a barrier to protecting public health.
As physicians, we see the damages caused by vaccine misinformation firsthand, and we welcome conversations with our patients about vaccine safety and efficacy. However, the widespread proliferation of misinformation and disinformation has triggered higher levels of vaccine hesitancy and refusal, allowing a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles that we had nearly eradicated. Preventing the spread of vaccine misinformation without infringing on free speech protections in the First Amendment is a thorny legal issue that is at the heart of a landmark case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, Murthy et al. v. Missouri et al. The nation’s leading healthcare organizations, including ours (the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association) and others — and the hundreds of thousands of physicians across the country who we represent — believe that vaccine misinformation poses a grave threat to public health. As outlined in an amicus brief we filed in this case, we seek to partner with the federal government to advance factual information.