WHY AND WHEN IS ANTI VACCINE ACTIVISM THE MOST HARMFUL
Introduction
This is probably one of the most timely topics I've written about. We`re entering Year 5 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, outbreaks of infectious diseases are being reported by health authorities like the CDC and WHO across different countries and regions eemingly every other week. Due to pandemic lockdowns, cultural changes, advancing technology and many other reasons, we`re more reliant on the intenet than ever as a source of information. That said, not all information is created equal and it can have devastating impacts if not regulated properly. In this post, I`ll talk about these issues in the context of antivaccine information. It should become clear that not only is vaccine hesitancy a threat to global health, but misinformation itself also is.
The first thing I`ll say is that I`m not referring to hesitancy, queries or concerns. It`is well established that vaccine hesitancy is a spectrum (read more about this here). It ranges from complete acceptance of all vaccines to hesitating, to complete rejection of some or even all vaccines. This is true whether they are routine or new..
In this case; I`m referring to deliberate dissemination of inaccurate information, or disinformation. I`ve written about disinformation in detail before. However, here I'll briefly discuss what it means and why disinformation about vaccines is damaging. I`ll also give an example of the consequences it can cause. Then circling back to the title; I`ll talk about why this type of information circulating is damaging, particularly due to two features of the times we live in. These are unregulated information sharing, and also how interlinked we are at a global level allowing pathogens to spread more easily than ever.
What is disinformation?
So with that being said; what is disinformation exactly? Why is it so damaging? It is false information that is circulated with the intent to deceive. It's that word, intent, that is the defining feature of disinformation. It's not inaccurate information that was shared in error, an honest mistake made by a fact-checking team, or even someone who was unsure about vaccines or a related topic asking questions. It is coordinated, planned, and has malicious intent behind it.
Why is it harmful?
With that understanding, it won't be surprising that this has the potential to cause significant harm. As I mentioned in the introduction, it can cause outbreaks of infectious diseases, influence the outcomes of political elections, and can drown out positive and accurate information in the saturated online environment. A 2022 paper by Daniel Jolley and Karen M. Douglas described two studies they conducted. The first involved parents completing a survey about beliefs in anti vaccine conspiracies and the likelihood that they would have a fictitious child vaccinated. Study 2 involved exposure of participants to either information supporting or refuting vaccination, as well as a control group. The results “revealed a significant negative relationship between anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and vaccination intentions.” This illustrates the detrimental effects that anti vaccine conspiracies can have.
In terms of these effects, I`ll discuss measles as an example. an article published in the Offaly Independent on 8th February 2024 reported 9 suspected measles cases in Ireland over the course of just 1 week,resulting in a risk of measles outbreaks. Further, the Health Service Executive/HSE, the Irish health authorities, said that one adult diagnosed with measles died in a hospital in the Leinster area (the east of Ireland). A similar pattern is occurring on the global level too. Further, the WHO European region also experienced a rise in measles cases in 2023 with over 30 000 cases reported by 40 of the 53 countries, including 21 000 hospitalisations. This is in comparison to 941 cases in 2022, which represents an over 30-fold increase in measles cases in the EU from 2022 to 2023. In the U.S, as of February 2024, a total of 35 measles cases were reported across 15 jurisdictions, including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington. Clearly, no region is immune to measles. This means that disinformation about the measles and other vaccines can have a detrimental impact when it can spread exponentially in very short periods of time over the internet. That's what I`ll discuss next.
How disinformation spreads so rapidly
Anyone has the capacity to mass-propagate information unregulated, even if they do not have authority to advise on vaccination. Some social media accounts opposing vaccines can garner millions of followers, views, likes, and so on. This can cause misinformation to be mass propagated and mistrust of vaccines to spread on a large scale. As with pathogens themselves, information online spreads exponentially not linearly. This means that the harm done by disinformation is very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. To grasp the scale of the Internet, consider that in Australia, over 90% of people own a smartphone and a daytime usage increase of 70-80% was reported from April to February 2020. Further, a 2011 study on problematic internet usage in US college students found that as much as 70% of participants reported remaining online longer than they had originally intended.
The infectious nature of measles
The second element of disinformation`s impact is how infectious specific bacterial and viral diseases are. I`ll once again take measles as an example.. Measles is among the most infectious diseases known to man, with mathematical models estimating a reproductive number of 12-18. This means that, on average, for each individual that contracts measles, they will spread it to 12-18 other individuals. In those who are susceptible to measles, infectivity is close to 100%. This means that it will cause an infection in almost everyone who comes into contact with the virus that has not either had a previous infection or been vaccinated.
Conclusion;
When this capacity for information spread and the significant amount of time spent online by a majority of people worldwide are combined with how infectious measles and other diseases are, it's clear that disinformation can have a direct impact on lives all over the world.
References;
The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions - PMC
Nine suspected cases of measles in Ireland recorded in one week | Offaly Independent
A 30-fold rise of measles cases in 2023 in the WHO European Region warrants urgent action
The coronavirus lockdown is forcing us to view ‘screen time’ differently. That’s a good thing
Problematic internet usage in US college students: a pilot study - PMC