It is more than skepticism and resistance to public health authorities or a specific government. People who speak out against vaccines that fight COVID – attitude close to paranoia: they think of conspiracy theories in which higher powers seek to control human beings through immunization, implant chips and manage the destiny of the world.
Most of the time they base this huge and inexplicable denial by science simply distorting scientific information and reality. Thus, they not only put their own health and that of their loved ones at risk, but also that of neighbors and members of their community.
Where are the roots of this attitude?
Experts argue that public health actions have as a goal the common good. For example, by limiting the spaces for smokers, so that non-smokers are not affected by secondhand smoke, while at the same time discouraging the habit.
This is especially true during a health emergency such as a pandemic.
Something similar happens with vaccines. For the common good, all eligible individuals should be vaccinated. It is not just science, it is simple common sense: the more immunized people there are, the less chance a germ has to circulate, it is as if it runs into a wall at every turn of the corner.
Some school systems , like the one in Los Angeles, have made the vaccination against COVID – 19 mandatory for their students , in the same way as a dozen vaccines of the school calendar that children need to have to register at the beginning of their school life, or if they change schools.
Apply the idea that when doing the mandatory vaccination violates a right, limits, at the end of the day, the rights or freedoms of all. Fewer vaccinated means more COVID cases, more isolation, less ability to go to work, and more restrictions in public and private spaces.
Unmasking liars
By disseminating false information about vaccines, those who are against these doses are achieving an effect contrary to what they seek, what is called in the field of social sciences “negative freedom” . And they do it by spreading false information. Especially in social networks, where, it is known, messages of any tone, expand like omicron: at the speed of light.
The ideologues behind the anti-vaccine movement do what any communication theory considers unethical: put data out of context and design the messages in such a way that they say what you want to disseminate, and not the real information.
An example taken from the American Frontline Doctors website (whose founder, Dr. Simone Gold, is an anti-vaccine spokesperson and participant in the attempted takeover of the Capitol, on January 6, 2021) is the article entitled “Vaccine-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (VAIDS): ‘We should anticipate to see this immune wear more broadly ‘”.
Some of the misleading messages in the story include:
- The title refers to a syndrome called VAIDS, supposedly triggered by vaccines against COVID, which does not actually exist. In fact, a search of PubMed, the site of the National Library of Medicine, which stores scientific studies of every existing condition, does not return results for VAIDS. There is no medical literature that refers to a new syndrome.
Social media platforms have been exponential red carpets to spread unsubstantiated messages about COVID vaccines .
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH, a consortium of professionals from the United States and the United Kingdom) published a report called The Disinformation Dozen, an investigation that revealed that two-thirds of anti-content vaccines posted or shared on Facebook and Twitter between February 1 and 16 March Of nails 812, 000 times, may originally be attributed only to 12 individuals
.
According to the report, these 12 people, well funded and influential, have managed to add a huge following. Among them are the osteopath Joseph Mercola, with 3.6 million followers; and Robert F. Kennedy, perhaps the most visible face of this movement.
Among the 12 most influential anti-vaccines, add 59 millions of followers. All of them receive, and in some cases share, information that is not based on evidence.
According to the work, in which Anti-Vax Watch also participated , an alliance made up of individuals seeking to inform the public about the dangers of anti-vaccine messages, social media platforms have dismissed the risk from these spokespersons, and have failed to alert the public to false information, letting it flow in the digital world as absolute truths.
Another CCDH report, The Anti-Vaxx Playbook, explains this informational tension. Health professionals need to persuade the public to take action and get vaccinated, while anti-vaccines only need to cast doubt on the efficacy, necessity, and safety of the recommended action.
It is a mechanism of “broken phone”, where, like a snowball, the false message is distorted and magnified as that goes from publication to publication.
It is not a religious belief, where there are non-scientific components that are impossible to refute. It is not about “believing or not believing.” There is evidence that something works or does not work, distorting that information to invalidate it is outside the limits of ethics.
Why misinformation
With the COVID pandemic – 19, the anti-vaccine movement It has become globalized and radicalized, and experts in this trend say that its roots are related to the loss of trust in official institutions.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explain that l spreading misinformation on social media and through other channels can affect confidence in the COVID vaccine – 19.
He adds that misinformation often arises when there are information gaps or a changing scientific reality, that human nature seeks to reason, better understand and fill those gaps. So magical individual and collective thinking sometimes wins over reason.
A situation like the COVID pandemic – 19 opens the game to this possibility because scientists often share uncertainty with the public. This informative dynamic has occurred with this public health crisis and with previous ones, such as that of HIV, when journalists had to report on the lack of certainty.
In an ongoing public health situation there is a lot of information that is emerging day by day, and can be changeable. And that is disconcerting and, if the person is incredulous, the game is open for them to consider as true things that are not.
The public has the right to know about this uncertainty and also understand that this uncertainty is part of the scientific process. In fact, in December 2019 little was known about the new coronavirus, and now, at the end of 2021, there is already a therapeutic and immunization battalion to confront it.
According to the CDC, there are two types of risky information that may circulate:
- Misinformation, which is false information shared by people who do not intend to mislead others.
- Disinformation which is false information deliberately created and disseminated with malicious intent.
Both types can affect confidence in the vaccine and vaccination rates. Most of the misinformation and misinformation that has circulated about COVID vaccines – 16 have focused on the development, safety and efficacy of vaccines, as well as the denial of the existence of COVID – 19.
Is being anti-vaccination a business?
Various analyzes They indicate that many of the most popular anti-vaccine characters run billionaire businesses. The discourse against vaccines can be the gateway for a user to become a consumer. Mercola (mentioned above) is believed to handle millions in sales of natural products, indicates an article in The Washington Post.
Anti-vaccine influencers sell products, books, videos and organize seminars to disseminate their posts. Ty and Charlene Bollinger, from the list of the “12 Apostles” list of disinformation They have made more than $ 5 million in sales of their books and documentaries.
Part of a larger agenda that does not include only the attack on the vaccines against COVID, the visible faces of the anti-vaccine movement are also rampant on the networks against many controversial issues such as abortion, racism and national politics. Most of them support far-right ideas.
It all started in 1998
Many of the current anti-vaccine doctrines are based on a study that the British researcher Andrew Wakefield posted in 1998, which linked the measles vaccine to autism. That work, which was discredited for having falsified data, did a lot of damage because it planted the seeds of doubt about vaccines in general in ordinary people.
In the United States it impacted middle-class communities , educated, from California, in the Orthodox Jewish community of New York and in certain immigrant communities, who began to refuse to vaccinate their children. A Gallup poll of 2019 found that parental support for vaccines had dropped to 84%, of 94% in 2001.
The Wakefield fraud It is the philosophical platform of the current anti-vaccines and, before and now, the lie plays with the vulnerability of people: a father who fears for his son, a grandfather in danger, a patient who does not want to die from COVID.
Research on Wakefield’s study revealed that financial interests motivated him to falsify the information in his study.
Before the internet age, you probably talked with neighbors, or with parishioners on Sundays in church. But now you live in like-minded communities and use like-minded social media and media bubbles. ication, so not many different points of view are heard.
How to avoid misinformation
It is difficult counteract the flow of disinformation, but not impossible. Some strategies the CDC suggests for both communicators and audiences are:
Listen, read, and analyze misinformation . This may include monitoring social media channels and traditional media for misinformation and creating a log of that misinformation to identify trends in the area of interest. This can help you understand where, when, why and how misinformation is spreading in your community. Another possible and wide dissemination place are the lists of parents of the schools.
Interact and listen to the voices of the community. To identify and analyze perceptions, content gaps, information gaps and misinformation.
Share accurate, clear and easy-to-find information that addresses common questions in a simple way. This can be done through the website itself, social networks and other places where the audience looks for health information. Also use methods to reach those with limited or no Internet access, such as radio or community events. Share details, including addresses and times, about local vaccination venues and events with community organizations and local media.
Use reliable messengers to increase credibility and the probability of neutralizing misinformation. Some people may not trust public health professionals or visit the health department website, so it is more effective to communicate with them through the channels and sources who seek and trust health information, such as religious leaders or community organizations.
An example in California
The TODEC Legal Center (Training Occupational Development Educating Communities), based in Coachella, California, is campaigning for agricultural workers in the region to receive their COVID vaccine boosters.
In a story published by KHN, Luz Gallegos explained that they try to get ahead of false rumors.
Gallegos and his team meet in the morning to discuss a strategy on how to “dilute” misinformation before it spreads. “Once we start hearing rumors, we try to get ahead of ourselves and create messages to discredit them before they start to penetrate the fields,” he said.
For example, false information from that the COVID vaccine caused sterility, the group of community workers from TODEC entered the fields with messages in Spanish on the subject.
Much misinformation circulates in Spanish on social networks, on radios and on WhatsApp. But one of the problems faced by people seeking to banish false information is that credible information, and the science behind it, is not always available in Spanish.
It is hard work. The Latino Anti-Disinformation Lab published a survey conducted among Hispanics, in which the 27% said that he was not going to get the vaccine; and 51% said they did not trust the vaccines that were offered.
Many Hispanics who have changed their minds about COVID vaccines this year agreed to get vaccinated after receiving messages from close community voices such as health promoters or religious leaders.
VACCINES AND COVID: COMMON MYTHS
Myth: the ingredients included in vaccines against COVID – 19 are dangerous.
Verified data: virtually all ingredients included in COVID vaccines – 19 are found in many foods, including fats, sugars, and salts.
The exact ingredients in each vaccine vary by manufacturer. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine also contain messenger RNA (mRNA), and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine contains a harmless version of a virus unrelated to the one that causes COVID. These combinations instruct the cells of the body to generate an immune response. This response provides protection to prevent COVID in the future, or have a mild form. Once the body produces an immune response, it discards all the ingredients in the vaccine, just as it discards any information that cells no longer need. This process is part of the normal functioning of the body.
COVID vaccines – 19 do not contain ingredients such as preservatives, tissues (such as fetal cells from abortions) , antibiotics, food proteins, drugs, later or metals.
Myth : natural immunity acquired through COVID infection – 19 is better than immunity obtained through vaccination.
Verified fact: it is safer and more reliable to generate immunity against COVID – 16 through vaccination rather than through a COVID infection – 19.
Vaccination generates a more predictable immune response than infection . The COVID vaccine provides most people with a high level of protection against the virus and offers additional protection to people who have already had COVID – 19. A study showed that, in the case of people who already had COVID, those who do not get vaccinated after their recovery are 2 times more likely to be re-infected than those who receive the full vaccine after their recovery.
All vaccines against COVID – 19 that are currently accepted by the WHO are effective in preventing infection. The infection may offer some protection against future exposures to the virus, which is often called “natural immunity,” but the level of protection that people get after becoming infected with COVID – 19 can vary depending on many variables, including the time since infection and the age of the person.
Vaccination against COVID – 19 helps protect the person creating an antibody-generating response without having to suffer from the disease. Getting vaccinated can also protect those around you, especially those at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus. When infected by COVID – 19 you can become seriously ill and even die, and we cannot predict for sure who will become seriously ill or will have mild symptoms.
Myth: vaccines against COVID – 19 cause variants.
Verified data: COVID vaccines – 19 do not create or cause variants of the virus. What vaccines do is help prevent new variants from appearing.
New virus variants arise because the virus that causes COVID – 19 is constantly changing through a constant natural process of mutation. As the virus spreads, it has more opportunities to change. High vaccination coverage in the population reduces the spread of the virus and helps prevent the appearance of new variants. CDC recommends that everyone 5 years and older get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Myth: the mRNA vaccine is not considered a vaccine.
Verified data: mRNA vaccines, such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, act differently from other vaccines, but they also trigger an immune response in the body.
It is a new type of vaccines, but they have been researched and developed for decades.
mRNA vaccines do not contain live virus. Instead, these vaccines teach cells to produce a harmless portion of the “S protein” that is present on the surface of the virus that causes COVID – 19. The immune system recognizes that the protein is a foreign body and begins to generate an immune response to get rid of it. When the immune response begins to develop, antibodies are created that trigger the same response produced by a natural infection.
Unlike mRNA vaccines, many other vaccines use a portion, or an attenuated version, of the germ that the vaccine fights. This is how flu and measles vaccines work. When a small or weakened part of the virus is introduced into our body, antibodies are generated to help protect it from future infections.
Myth: contain microchips.
Verified data: vaccines against COVID – 19 do not contain microchips. Vaccines are created to fight diseases and are not administered to follow people’s movements.
Vaccines work by stimulating the production of antibodies from the immune system, from the the same way it would if the person were exposed to the disease. After getting vaccinated, you develop immunity to this disease without having to suffer it first.
Myth: receive a COVID vaccine – 19 can make the person “magnetic”.
Verified fact: get vaccinated against COVID – 19 does not magnetize, not even in the vaccination area, which is usually arm.
Vaccines against COVID – 19 do not contain ingredients that can produce an electromagnetic field at the injection site. None of the vaccines against contains metals.
Myth: can alter DNA.
Verified fact: vaccines against COVID – 19 do not modify DNA or interact with it in any way.
Both messenger RNA (mRNA) and viral vector vaccines give cells instructions (genetic material) to begin to generate protection against the virus that causes COVID – 19.
The material The genetics provided by mRNA vaccines never enter the nucleus of the cell, which is where a human’s DNA resides. Viral vector vaccines provide genetic material to the nucleus of the cell so that our cells generate protection against COVID – 19. However, the viral vector does not have the necessary machinery to integrate its genetic material into the person’s DNA, so it cannot alter it.
Myth: the COVID vaccine can affect fertility
Verified fact: