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Anti-vaxxers abound on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, spreading misinformation about vaccination. At the same time, the United States is facing the worst measles outbreak in nearly two decades, while in the UK, half a million British children are not vaccinated against this disease dangerous that spreads easily. third worst in terms of vaccinations among rich countries, after the United States and France.
In the face of declining vaccination rates, health authorities are responding. Their weapon of choice? The humble hashtag. Last month, Public Health England (PHE), a government agency that promotes wellness in the UK, launched a social media campaign under #ValueofVaccines, while UNICEF partnered with to #VaccinesWork. Everything is true, of course, and clear enough to be understood, but more than a week after its publication, a tweet containing both hashtags contains an answer and 72 mentions I like.
At first glance, this augurs badly. The anti-vaxxers use language and emotional images, appealing to the worst fears of parents. And on Facebook, the most popular groups each have more than 100,000 subscribers, while doctors who tweet for immunization clash with those who disagree. Should we fight fire with fire or can positive politeness of PHE convince parents to vaccinate their children?
For starters, it should be noted that the battle may not be what it seems. The number of vaccines is slightly lower in England for some vaccines. Coverage for the first MMR jab slipped to 91.2% last year, down slightly from 91.6% the year before. But in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, they do not exceed 95%, which is a hurdle to overcome for herd immunity.
And public health officials do not blame the fall in England of misinformation on social networks. "From what we can see, social media do not have any impact because the trust [in vaccinations] remains very high, "says a spokesman for PHE. "Most people vaccinate in time, and the percentage that is not, perhaps for safety or other beliefs, is very low. Nothing indicates for the moment that we should change our approach. PHE's research reveals that only 2% of parents refused to be vaccinated and 90% of them said their children had been immunized automatically at the right time.
Research conducted by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) shows that scheduling and availability of appointments were the main impediment to vaccination, suggesting that increasing the immunization rate of children of this country has less to do with Twitter and Facebook than with others. funding of vaccination clinics. "We believe that getting people to have an appointment at a time that suits them and that doctors invite them to get vaccinated and send them reminders if they have forgotten something will make the biggest difference." Said the PHE spokesman.
This is one of the reasons for the soft-gentle approach of the PHE to fight against anti-vaxxers, but conspiracy theories remain necessary to guarantee parents the badurance of the safety of vaccinations and to avoid new ones. decreases in vaccination rates. One-third of parents turn to the internet for information on immunizations, reports the PHE report, but only one-fifth think social media is a reliable source.
Nine out of ten said that health professionals and the NHS were reliable sources of information, with less than 4% reporting the opposite. This suggests that doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals are the real front line in the fight against anti-vaxxers, although many go beyond surgery through social media. To badist, PHE is already organizing a weekly telephone meeting for general practitioners and other medical staff to ask questions about immunization and to get help answering questions from patients.
But there are still enough people who are turning to social media and the internet to get medical information, rather than calling their GPs, hence the #ValueofVaccinations campaign of the PHE backed by blog posts. , tweets and shareable illustrations. Such a positive message may seem less useful than making the myth proactively, but PHE is not in agreement. The same goes for the World Health Organization, noting that the general public should be the target of any message rather than vocal vaccine deniers.
To engage directly with conspiracies is to throw water on a fire of fat: it spreads the flames instead of extinguishing them. As the WHO notes, trying to demystify requires repeating a misconception, which can backfire when people forget the details but remember the general idea. If something seems familiar, we tend to think of it as true.
This lesson was learned the hard way as a result of Andrew Wakefield's discredited fraudulent document, which alleged an improper link between MMR and autism, which had reduced the vaccination rate to less than 80%. 2003 and leads the shameful doctor to be removed from the British medical register. . "Our approach is not to fight myths directly, but because events such as the fright of the MMR have taught us that it is a positive message that works: directly destroying myths can instead proliferate messages. Said the PHE spokesman. "People do not remember if the myth is true or false, and by repeating things, it brings more visibility. So we use positive messages at key times when people may be thinking about immunization, for example before the summer holidays or before going to the university. "
In addition, some people may never be easily convinced. A study by YouGov and the Cambridge Globalism Project suggests a link between conspiracy theories about vaccinations, global warming, terrorism and populist attitudes, suggesting a common belief that the authorities should not be trusted. In this case, government organizations such as PHE and the NHS could be misplaced to convince opponents. "The data shows that [anti-vaccination believes] does not seem to have much to do with factors such as education, as might be expected, "said Jonathan Kennedy of Queen Mary University in London The Guardian. "Instead, it is motivated by anger and suspicion towards elites and experts, which has also resulted in growing support of anti-establishment political parties across Europe and beyond."
The RSPH argues that more can still be done – not necessarily by PHE or other public health agencies, but by social networks suppressing such content. "Talking positively about vaccines is not enough," said Toby Green, policy and research officer at RSPH. "We found that two in five parents (41%) had been exposed to negative messages about vaccines on social networks, this figure rising to one in two among parents of children under five."
The government has launched rumors about suppressing misinformation against immunization as part of broader efforts to establish a regulator for social media to prevent online damage. "We believe that this regulator should play a crucial role in the fight against harmful anti-vaccination messages online, for example by applying the NHS England Information Standard to social media platforms and by developing a" duty of care "for businesses to fight against harmful misinformation on the Internet. their platforms, "Green said.
Both the NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Affairs (DHSC) spokesperson spoke about Health Secretary Matt Hanbad's social networking meeting on April 29th, suggesting that the problem with anti-vaxxers could be addressed before the summit. The British government has stated that it could force social media to ban the wrong health information, but reports suggest that the meeting lasted only an hour and did not result in only on research funds for the Samaritans. the DHSC did not respond to the request for comment as to whether the question of vaccinations was discussed.
With or without Hanbad, social networks have begun to fight against anti-vaccination groups. Last month, Facebook said that it would no longer let anti-vaccination organizations buy ads or recommendations, thus preventing groups such as the National Vaccine Information Center from pushing misinformation over- beyond their direct subscribers. Facebook also stated that it would reduce the rankings of groups and pages with inaccurate information on vaccines in News Feed and Search, remove fundraising tools for these pages and explore ways to share educational information about vaccines when people encountered incorrect information on this topic. "
Instagram will also stop showing misleading health information on its Explore page, YouTube has demonetized videos showing anti-vaxxer views, and GoFundMe has ended its fundraising campaigns. Twitter has not yet taken similar action. Co-founder Jack Dorsey appeared on a podcast hosted by a facilitator with anti-vaccination beliefs.
It remains to be seen if the limited movements of social networks and the positive campaign of PHE make all the difference. However, for the MMR vaccine, vaccination rates in England have never exceeded the recommended 95% coverage recommended to ensure herd immunity. It's the goal that health organizations should aim for, no matter what is being said on social media.
The public health campaign we need is not about shouting mythical tweets in the abyss to counter the nonsense of conspiracies in social media presumed by 2% of the population, but to encourage those who are globally Vaccination-friendly to come to their appointments to make sure their children get the jabs, cringe England after the 95 percent threshold of herd immunity. It's worth it, at least.
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