Reclaiming the Health Misinformation Spiral on Social Media

As medical students and future pediatricians, we recognize that childhood vaccines are one of the single greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries. Yet, for one of us, a pregnant cousin announced over the Thanksgiving dinner table that she wasn’t going to vaccinate her unborn child. No matter the facts, research, or wealth of medical education, this cousin was firm in her beliefs that there was a better, healthier way to protect her child than vaccination.

Unfortunately, her viewpoint is not at all surprising given the misinformed headlines that permeate our Instagram feeds such as “The Danger of Vaccines” and “What Doctors Aren’t Telling You.”

Frustration and fear of vaccines are voiced on almost every social media platform. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve increasingly seen new moms banding together in force to navigate the stress of making these health decisions while striving to keep their children safe.

Clicking on these frightening headlines brings you to pages dedicated to debunking medical claims in the name of “holistic,” “low-tox,” “pro-safe,” and “natural” health. The depth of misinformation they share is shocking. But the reach of this movement has hit home for all of us as we increasingly find ourselves facing anti-vaccine believers not only within clinics, but also among our families and friends. We can’t help but wonder where we as medical professionals are going wrong that even our own families aren’t trusting us to guide their health decisions.

This flurry of viral misinformation has proven that it can be disastrous for public health. It will take medical providers and families coming together to combat this social media misinformation overload.

The anti-vaccine community has grown to the point where in 2019, the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health.