Category: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Four Years After Shelter-in-Place, Covid-19 Misinformation Persists
KFF From spring break parties to Mardi Gras, many people remember the last major “normal” thing they did before the novel coronavirus pandemic dawned, forcing governments worldwide to issue stay-at-home advisories and shutdowns. Even before the first case of covid-19 was detected in the U.S., fears and uncertainties helped spur misinformation’s rapid spread. In March […]
Apr 3, 2024
How to counter vaccine misinformation in political discourse
Washington Post | Opinion This fact might be hard to believe, but there’s no denying it: Anti-vaccine sentiments are likely to play a key role in this year’s election. President Biden is fending off challenges from not one but two opponents regularly spouting anti-vaccine messages. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has repeatedly declared in campaign speeches that he […]
Mar 27, 2024
Medical Misinfo Runs Rampant Online.
MedPageToday 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 […]
Mar 26, 2024
Health Misinformation Is Evolving. Here’s How to Spot It.
NYT The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a case that involves the Biden administration’s efforts to communicate with social media sites about posts officials believed made false or misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines and the pandemic. While the case has primarily focused on a debate around free speech, it also has put a spotlight on the […]
Mar 20, 2024
MSN Disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield – whose fake anti-vax data has been blamed for the current measles epidemic – has set his sights on discrediting the mumps vaccine. The 67-year-old, who fled to the US after being struck off in the UK for fraudulently connecting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, is […]
Feb 14, 2024
How the anti-vaccine movement is downplaying the danger of measles
NBC News As outbreaks of measles spread throughout the world, anti-vaccine activists aren’t just urging people not to get vaccinated — they’re taking a page from a well-worn playbook, falsely downplaying the dangers from the highly contagious respiratory disease. “The truth is, measles is not a super severe serious illness when you’re a child,” Mary Holland, […]
Feb 6, 2024
Supreme Court to weigh whether Covid misinformation is protected speech
STAT As social media sites were flooded with misleading posts about vaccine safety, mask effectiveness, Covid-19’s origins and federal shutdowns at the height of the pandemic, Biden officials urged platforms to pull down posts, delete accounts, and amplify correct information. Now the Supreme Court could decide whether the government violated Americans’ First Amendment rights with […]
Feb 6, 2024
Disinformation Is the Real Threat to Democracy and Public Health
Scientific American Disinformation is the coin of the modern realm. Vaccine denial, climate denial, election denial and war-crime denial have joined the grotesque denial of the Holocaust in the ranks of dishonesties now regularly foisted on the public. We can, however, do something about this crisis of the information age. In January the World Economic Forum […]
Jan 30, 2024
How fringe anti-science views infiltrated mainstream politics — and what it means in 2024
CBS News Rates of routine childhood vaccination hit a 10-year low in 2023. That, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, puts about 250,000 kindergartners at risk for measles, which often leads to hospitalization and can cause death. In recent weeks, an infant and two young children have been hospitalized amid an ongoing measles outbreak in Philadelphia that […]
Jan 24, 2024
Board Restricts Doctor’s License Over COVID Misinfo
MedPage Today The Medical Commission in Washington state has restricted the license of Idaho pathologist Ryan Cole, MD. In an order dated January 4 the commission concluded that Cole spread misinformation related to COVID-19 and failed to meet the standard of care for a number of patients during the pandemic. As a result, the commission restricted Cole from […]
Jan 16, 2024
