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PARIS: As early as February, with the rapid spread of the global pandemic, the World Health Organization issued a warning about an “infodemic,” a wave of fake news and misinformation about the new deadly disease on social media.
Now, with hopes for Covid-19 vaccines, WHO and experts warn that those same phenomena could jeopardize the launch of immunization programs aimed at ending suffering.
“Coronavirus disease is the first pandemic in history where technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, informed, productive and connected,” the WHO said.
“At the same time, the technology we rely on to stay connected and informed is enabling and amplifying an infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardizes measures to control the pandemic.”
More than 1.4 million people have died since the pandemic broke out in China late last year, but three developers are already seeking approval for their vaccines to be used as early as December.
Beyond logistics, however, governments also have to contend with skepticism about vaccines being developed at record speed at a time when social media has been both a tool for information and falsehoods about the virus.
WHO has defined an infodemic as an overabundance of information, both online and offline, including “deliberate attempts to disseminate misinformation.”
Last month, a study from Cornell University in the US found that US President Donald Trump was the world’s biggest driver of Covid-19 disinformation during the pandemic.
In April, Trump pondered the possibility of using disinfectants inside the body to cure the virus and also promoted unproven treatments.
Since January, this news agency has published more than 2,000 fact-checking articles dismantling false claims about the novel coronavirus.
“Without the appropriate trust and the correct information, diagnostic tests are not used, immunization campaigns (or campaigns to promote effective vaccines) will not achieve their goals and the virus will continue to thrive,” WHO said.
Three vaccine developers – Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca / Oxford University are leading the pack – and some governments are already planning to start vaccinating the most vulnerable this year.
But with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or WhatsApp serving as vectors for dubious facts and false news, “disinformation has now reached an unappealable scale,” said Sylvain Delouvee, a researcher in social psychology at the University of Rennes-2. Rory Smith of the anti-disinformation website First Draft agrees.
“From the point of view of information, (the coronavirus crisis) not only underlined the enormous extent of disinformation around the world, but also the negative impact that disinformation can have on trust in vaccines, institutions and scientific discoveries more generally, “he said.
Katherine O’Brien, head of WHO’s immunization department, said the agency was concerned that false information propagated by the so-called “anti-vaxxer” movement could dissuade people from immunizing against the coronavirus.
“We are very concerned about this and concerned that people are getting their information from credible sources, that they are aware that there is a lot of information out there that is wrong, both intentionally wrong and unintentionally wrong,” he said.
Published on Dawn, November 29, 2020
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