“Infodemic” risks that put COVID-19 vaccines at risk: WHO

PARIS: Already in February, with the rapid spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning about an “infodemic”, a wave of false news and disinformation about the new deadly disease on social networks average.

Now, with hopes suspended on 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 undermines 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 falsehood about the virus.

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WHO defined the 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 United States 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, AFP has published more than 2,000 fact-checking articles dismantling false claims about the coronavirus.

“Without the proper 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.

“SCALE WITHOUT EQUAL”

Three vaccine developers – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca-Oxford University – are leading the group, and some governments are already planning to start vaccinating their most vulnerable this year.

But with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp serving as vectors for dubious facts and false news, “disinformation has now reached an unprecedented 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 scale 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.

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Rachel 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, intentionally or unintentionally wrong,” he told AFP.

VACCINE HESITANCE

Steven Wilson, a professor at Brandeis University and co-author of a study called Social Media and Vaccine Hesitancy published last month in the British Medical Journal, noted a link between online disinformation campaigns and a decline in vaccinations.

“My fear regarding the impact of disinformation on social media in the context of COVID-19 is that it will increase the number of individuals who are reluctant to get a vaccine, even if their fears have no scientific basis,” he said.

“Any vaccine is only as effective as our ability to distribute it to a population.”

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Among the more outlandish claims of conspiracy theorists, for example, is the idea that the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax or part of an elite plan, devised by the likes of Bill Gates, to control the population.

And vaccination programs, those groups say, are a shield for implanting microscopic chips into people to monitor them.

Such notions may find fertile ground at a time when polls show that people in some countries, such as Sweden and France, are already skeptical about taking vaccines, especially when treatments have been developed in record time with no long studies. term still available on their effectiveness and possible side effects.

GROWING TRUST

Last month, an Ipsos poll suggested that only 54% of French people would immunize against COVID-19, 10 percentage points lower than the United States, 22 points lower than Canada and 33 points lower than Canada. India.

In 15 countries, 73% of people said they were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, four percentage points lower than in a previous August survey.

But it’s not just about vaccines: more and more people are expressing growing mistrust of institutions, experts say.

“The common theme” among conspiracy theorists “is that our ‘elites’ lie to us,” said Delouvee of the University of Rennes 2.

Disinformation is based on growing distrust of any institutional authority, be it governmental or scientific.

“When people cannot easily access reliable information on vaccines and when distrust of vaccine-related actors and institutions is high, disinformation narratives rush to fill the void,” says a First Draft report.

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