Current solution:
- Bar information on social media
- Platforms such as facebook prevent posting of vaccine-related news
- Revised community guideline news
- Pinterest revising the content being posted
- Conduct campaigns for parents
To try to bar the misinformation on social media. Social media platforms such as Facebook revise community guidelines on what is posted and social media such as Instagram and Pinterest are revising the content being posted on their platform regarding the vaccine.
Evidence:
Prevention of spread of false information regarding vaccination on social platforms
Bever L. (2019) Anti Vaxxers have been raising money with GoFundMe. The site just put a stop to it. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/03/22/gofundme-joins-instagram-other-companies-crackdown-anti-vaxxer-misinformation/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d202996f3ff1
Pinterest blocking misinformation
Telford T. (21 February, 2019). Pinterest is blocking search results about vaccines to protect users from misinformation. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/02/21/pinterest-is-blocking-all-vaccine-related-searches-all-or-nothing-approach-policing-health-misinformation/?utm_term=.6e71835a9e36
Facebook and Youtube restriction
Wong J. C. (1 February, 2019). How facebook and youtube help spread anti-vaxxers propaganda. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/01/facebook-youtube-anti-vaccination-misinformation-social-media
Social clustering:
According to Saltathe(2011), parents are more likely to listen to the people around them rather than health experts due to social clustering.
Salathe M, Khandelwal S (2011). Assessing vaccination sentiments with online social media: Implication for infectious disease dynamic and control. PLoS computational biology.
Shortcoming:
- Social media is unable to properly exercise restriction of false news about vaccination / unable to filter everything
- people are more likely to listen to their social networks
- Bots can spam information
Evidence:
Campaigns do not work for parents
Seaman A. M. (4 March 2014). Vaccine education programs may not work as hoped. Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vaccine-education/vaccine-education-programs-may-not-work-as-hoped-idUSBREA2225A20140303
Inability to block out all WhatsApp
Solon O. (20 July, 2018). Facebook's plan to kill dangerous fake news is ambitious- and perhaps impossible. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/19/facebook-fake-news-violence-moderation-plan
Bots
Broniatowski DA. (2018) Weaponized health communication: Twitter bots and russion trolls amplify the vaccine debate. AM J Public Health.
Proposed:
To start education about vaccines when they are small, and warn children about the ill effects of false information. Education should start when young, teaching them how the vaccine works and the effects of having vaccines such that future generation will understand it better. Its a long term solution compared to the current solution of changing the information. This prepares children in the future so they will be better informed and aware of false information in the future.
Conclusion:
This essay examined the impact of the spread of false news regarding vaccines through social media in the US, affecting both parent and children alike. Due to the fact that more than half of Americans received news on social media (Matsa and Shearer, 2018) with false news being 70 per cent more likely to be shared in comparison to authentic news, the spread of false information about vaccines lead many parents to have a misconception regarding vaccines and this led to the prevention of children being properly vaccinated against VPD (Fox,2018). Although there are healthcare providers and authorities that would provide authentic information about vaccines, research shows that the population are more likely to rely on the internet or their social network to attain information (Brunson,2013). However, MacDonald (2015) found that information researched dealing with vaccines through social media are prominent in incorrect information which led many, in the US, to believe in the incorrect information pertaining to vaccines.