“How to Address Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 Sept. 2021, www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/addressing-vaccine-misinformation.html. 

How to Address Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation

 • The rise of social media use and outreach has raised the influence of vaccine misinformation more than any time in history.

 • Studies show that there is a wide spread of vaccine misinformation on social media platforms.

 • Consuming anti vaccine social media content has the potential to negatively impact vaccine attitudes and uptake.


Anti-vaccine Misinformation and Social Media

 •YouTube is the largest video sharing social media platform.

 •The article describes YouTube as a hotbed for anti vaccine misinformation.

 •A study found that out of 172 human papillomavirus related videos on YouTube, only around 30% of the videos were pro-vaccine.

 •Another study showed that around 20% and 30% of videos on influenza and measles-mumps-rubella vaccines, were anti-vaccine videos.

 •According to both studies, anti-vaccine videos had more views than pro-vaccine videos


YouTube and Vaccine Misinformation

 •Filter bubbles are created by YouTube as viewers are exposed to content that is similar, repetitive and biased. 

 •The study wishes to explore to what degree YouTube’s recommendation algorithm shapes the exposure of people to vaccine related information and misinformation.


Goal of the Study


 •The researchers created two search networks from pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine keywords to resemble goal-oriented browsing (based on keyword search).

 •In contrast to the goal oriented browsing networks, they constructed two seed networks (resembling direct navigation)  based on conspiracy and anti-vaccine expert seed videos.

 •Video contents and network structures were analyzed using the network exposure model.


Methods


 • How do traditional media users and social media users in the US differ in their belief in vaccine misinformation?

• How does the acceptance or rejection of common vaccine misinformation relate to the trust an individual has in medical experts/expertise?


Questions of Research (type of media used and trust in medical expertise)


Misinformation/disinformation about vaccines that can affect vaccine confidence and vaccination rates.

University of California, Berkeley

As the term indicates, health misinformation is misinformation related to health. Themes might be viruses, food safety, nutrition and vaccinations (Bode & Vraga, 2018; Chen et al., 2018; Lazer et al., 2018; Lewandowsky et al., 2012; Oh & Lee, 2019). These  misinformation can negatively affect people’s health behaviors (Chou et al., 2018; Oh & Lee, 2019). 

Health misinformation

“(a) examine how factors such as anxiety about health-related issues, preexisting beliefs, and repeated exposure to health misinformation may contribute to the acceptance of the unverified information on social media, and (b), to explore
demographic differences (e.g., sex, age, education level, and social-economic status) in health misinformation acceptance”


Goals of a study by Pan, Liu & Fang (2021) about health misinformation acceptance

- Don’t repeat wrong information because of the repition-based truth-effect.
- Institutions should work to increase people’s trust in them to reduce health-related anxiety.
- Active inoculating and prebunking.
- Repeated warnings.
- Improve people’s health literacy.


Pan, Liu and Fang's (2021) recommendations on how to fight the spread of health misinformation

One recent event that led to a surge of health misinformation was the COVID-19 Pandemic. Misinformation spreading had dangerous consequences, such as causing people to overreact (trying ineffective treatments, hoarding goods) or underreact (neglect public-safety measures, unintentionally spread the virus). 

Misinformation and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Vaccine Misinformation

• Previous studies show group relations and shared belief systems often correlate with vulnerability to misinformation.

• Study looks at the correlation between misperception and group affiliations, media exposure, and lived experiences.

•Focuses on the role of racial/ethnic,  religious, and partisan group affiliations relate to misperceptions people held about COVID-19



Group level misperceptions about COVID-19


 • The article addresses how the social, economic, and political contexts people live in affect how they receive information from officials and interpret and act on that information


COVID-19 health information and misinformation in the context of growing inequalities in Lebanon 


Correcting health misinformation has been found to be more effective than corrections related to political information. Ingroup protective behavior, confirmation bias, and motivated reasoning could contribute to the greater difficulty in correcting political misinformation. 

Health Misinformation Corrections

* Definition
* Terms
* Emergence
* Risks
* Similarities with and differences from diet culture

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