By Misinformation or, more worrying, disinformation around COVID is nothing new but the imminent prospect of mass COVID vaccination has triggered a second wave of conspiracies and confusion.
Anti-vaxxers have been responsible for promulgating a series of fantastical rumours and conspiracy theories about coronavirus vaccines, including a persistent claim that vaccination will result in people being implanted with a microchip that will be used to track them.
Health secretary Matt Hancock responded to questions about the anti-vax movement saying “the good news is that it’s not growing”.
“We monitor this very carefully and actually the number of people who want to have the vaccine is increasing,” he said
“The regulators are fiercely independent – they would not approve this if it wasn’t safe.”
Sir David, the author of How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence, encouraged the Government to put medical professionals at the front of the campaign against vaccine misinformation.
He said: “public health professionals…are the people, not government ministers, to address this. After all, in the end, if anti-vaxxers don’t get vaccinated then it will make life for everyone else more hazardous.”
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protests have been a common occurence during the pandemic.
Credit: PA
Social media erupts with anti-vaxxers
While some of these are frankly comical posts, the fear is that the spread of misinformation into mainstream media sources could result in fewer people taking up the opportunity to be vaccinated, undermining the programme.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate has encouraged the public to reject misinformation seen online, and called on social media platforms to do more to remove content.
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said: “Anti-vaxxers view the Covid vaccine as an opportunity to create long-lasting distrust in the effectiveness, safety, and necessity for vaccination.
It is believed that around 5million people in the UK have declined a vaccine for one reason or another, but does social media have a lot to answer for?
