 •"Vaccines given to children for diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella can cause neurological disorders like autism."

 • "Vaccines in general are full of toxins and harmful ingredients like “antifreeze.”

 •"It makes no difference if parents choose to delay or spread out vaccines instead of relying on the official CDC vaccine schedule. "

 • "It is better to develop natural immunity by getting the disease than by receiving the vaccine."

Common Claims of the Anti-Vaccination Movement Used to Measure Vaccine Misinformation

 •Random sample of 2500 US adults from a national panel

 •Vaccination misinformation measured two times over a period of six months in 2019

 • Media preference was self reported

 •Self reported exposure to MMR vaccination content on traditional media or social media


University of California, Berkeley

 (out of nearly 2500 participants in the survey)

• 18% believe that vaccines cause autism.

 • 15% agree that vaccines are full of toxins.

 • 20% agree that parents don’t need to rely on the official CDC vaccine schedule to get their children vaccinated .

 • 19% agree that it is better to develop immunity by getting the disease than by vaccination.



Percentages of those who believe in/agree with MMR vaccine  misinformation 


Stecula, Dominik Andrzej, et al. “How Trust in Experts and Media Use Affect Acceptance of Common Anti-Vaccination Claims: HKS Misinformation Review.” Misinformation Review, 29 Jan. 2021, https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/users-of-social-media-more-likely-to-be-misinformed-about-vaccines/. 

How Trust in Experts and Media Use Affect Acceptance of Common Anti-Vaccination Claims


 • It is valuable to educate the public through traditional media sources and minimize exposure to vaccine misinformation on social media.


Implication of Study Results


Methods

 • Those who reported low trust in medical authorities were more likely to believe in vaccine misinformation. 


Relationship between trust in medical authorities and belief in vaccine misinformation

 • Over a period of time, people who were exposed to an increased amount of content about (MMR) vaccine on social media were more likely to have grown more misinformed than those who received content about the MMR vaccine through traditional media.


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