The race against vaccine idiocy

By Wisley Lau

Since the coronavirus started spreading around the world in the year 2020, it has been a race against time for scientists to figure out how to create a vaccine. However, now that vaccines have been produced, in 2021 the race is against misinformation and lies.

In late 2020, as the first vaccines were distributed, conspiracies had already spread on the Internet. As mass-scale injections commence in 2021, it is inevitable that scientists and fact-checkers will be facing an uphill battle against the misinformation spreaders.

Misinformation in a pandemic is not a new thing. Misconceptions and false information were spread during the plague and the Spanish flu. What is different in this pandemic is that we have a super spreader for misinformation: the Internet. For example, on Youtube, if you look for information on the origin of the coronavirus, there is a chance you might start with a video with a more balanced point of view. As Youtube’s algorithm suggests others to click on, the videos start to get more biased and express more extreme views. 

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels

Vaccine skepticism and misinformation started well before the COVID era. Vaccine skepticism mostly stems from a flawed research paper claiming the MMR vaccine causes autism. That research was only conducted on twelve children by a faulty doctor. Further research conducted on millions of children shows no link. But the seeds had already been sown and as time passed by, skepticism on the ingredients of the vaccine and the doses of vaccines have repeatedly been brought up by anti-vaxxers and constantly debunked by scientists and doctors. 

And there is a real-world effect to this nonsense. In the USA, many people who did not get the measles vaccine actually got infected with the disease. Most parents who did not let their children take the vaccine on schedule or at all had received information from social media apps like Facebook by retweets or group chats. 

As the outbreak of Covid-19 has spread and scientists have been developing a vaccine, the anti-vaxxer movement has gained more steam. With average people having doubts about the speed the vaccines have been brought to market, and the safety of the vaccine, misinformation has been spread easily to a wide audience. (Actually, because we have viruses similar to COVID -19 it has been possible to speed up the pace of research and creation of a vaccine, and safety is assured if approved by governmental agencies that tackle public health, like the CDC in the USA, or the Department of Health here in Hong Kong). Due to platforms like social media, unscientific comments and ideas made by conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers have become mainstream: from the claim that the Pfizer vaccine causes infertility, to the baseless theory that it is created by Bill Gates, philanthropist and former CEO of Microsoft, with a microchip to control the brain.

One of the prominent spreaders of misinformation is the group QAnon. If you are unfamiliar with it, QAnon is a complicated conspiracy theory including beliefs in the ‘deep state’ and that famous celebrities and politicians are satan worshiping pedophiles who mastermind child trafficking. QAnon has been entangling with the anti-vaxxer community for months. Just recently Facebook has removed one of the largest anti-vaxxer groups promoting QAnon. Now partly thanks to QAnon, the anti-vaxxer movement is growing more international and violent, as lots of countries have anti-vaccine protests. This is increasingly dangerous, not only because of its ignorance and misinformation, but the movement is hurting people in real life. 

Currently, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are flagging or deleting misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, Google has also taken steps to flag correct information, while Youtube is also taking steps by deleting misinformed videos. But in the end, this is up to the public working together to cancel misinformation from our lives and our society. There are lots of tips to combat misinformation, not only to vaccine skepticism, but the one I think is the most important tip is comparing information. For example, if you read an article about how the coronavirus vaccine makes you smarter, research different sources, especially official websites on public health like the WHO or local public health agencies like the Department of Health here in Hong Kong, or consult credible and resourced news sites like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, BBC News, and The Guardian. The information might not be perfectly accurate, so it relies on your critical thinking skills to create an answer; if it does not match the news article you originally saw, it is probably misinformation.

But remember, vaccines are life-saving miracles created by science and their safety is ensured courtesy of local and international public health agencies. So when it’s your turn to take the jab, go for it!