Category: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Vaccine misinformation: a lasting side effect from Covid
AFP A fringe anti-vaccine movement took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to bring conspiracy theories to a much wider audience, propelling dangerous misinformation about life-saving jabs that still endures five years later, experts warn. Vaccine scepticism was around long before Covid but the pandemic “served as an accelerant, helping to turn a niche movement into […]
Jan 22, 2025
Why do false claims that vaccines cause autism refuse to die? Here are nine reasons
The Conversation The idea that autism is caused by vaccines has recently been revived by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the presumptive nominee for US Secretary of Health and Human Services, as well as by president-elect Donald Trump. When asked about vaccines at a recent press conference, Trump reportedly said there was “something wrong” with rising autism rates, […]
Jan 15, 2025
Windfalls for COVID Misinfo Groups
Medical Page Today Four groups that spread medical misinformation in the midst of the COVID pandemic and its aftermath have collected enormous sums of money from donations in recent years, the Washington Postopens in a new tab or window found in tax filings from the nonprofits. The influx of funds has allowed the groups to further their […]
Jan 1, 2025
Misinformation Will Get (Much) Worse
Forbes Coming off the pandemic, a whole swath of American society has de-credentialed the medical profession. And there is no easy pathway back to a place where physicians and other healthcare professionals are fully trusted for their knowledge and, more importantly, their judgment. Logging on to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, […]
Dec 4, 2024
Social histories of public health misinformation and infodemics: case studies of four pandemics
The Lancet Recognition of misinformation as a public health threat and interest in infodemics, defined as an inundation of information accompanying an epidemic or acute health event, have increased worldwide. However, scientists have no consensus on how to best define and identify misinformation and other essential characteristics of infodemics. We conducted a narrative review of […]
Nov 20, 2024
Medical Boards Barely Acted Amid Flood of COVID Misinformation
Medscape Only a handful of physicians in the five most populous states faced medical board discipline over spreading misinformation to the community during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study found. In California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, only six physicians were disciplined for disseminating medical misinformation in the first years of […]
Nov 13, 2024
Vaccine Hesitancy: COVID-19 to Influenza
AJMC Back in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed vaccine hesitancy—the outright refusal or reluctance to get vaccinated regardless of the availability of vaccines—as a top-10 threat to global health.1 At the time, WHO estimated that vaccinations prevented up to 3 million deaths each year; furthermore, an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented if global […]
Oct 22, 2024
WHO Partners With TikTok to Tackle Misinformation
Practice Business WHO says the collaboration reflects its commitment to promoting global health literacy by leveraging various digital communications technologies. With around one in four young people receiving their news via social media, senior WHO figures want to combat the increasingly prominent issue of misinformation. With the platform reportedly reaching more than one billion people […]
Oct 9, 2024
Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins
Guardian For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation. The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them […]
Oct 2, 2024
Florida’s New Covid Booster Guidance Is Straight-Up Misinformation
KFF In what has become a pattern of spreading vaccine misinformation, the Florida health department is telling older Floridians and others at highest risk from covid-19 to avoid most booster shots, saying they are potentially dangerous. Clinicians and scientists denounced the message as politically fueled scaremongering that also weakens efforts to protect against diseases like […]
Sep 25, 2024