This article is written by Nicole Fan, Social Content Writer at Apolitical

Even before Covid-19 spread outside of China and became a global pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in February: “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.”

The overabundance of information about Covid-19 has only grown, fuelled by social media platforms that allow information to travel widely and rapidly. This is making it difficult for people to discern fact from fiction, causing false information to be more easily spread and believed.

The far-reaching influence of vaccine misinformation appears to stem from scepticism of political institutions and public health systems. In times of crisis, these establishments take charge of providing leadership and protection. However, the public’s trust in them is not a given. Recent research about the political effects of Covid-19 suggests that the effectiveness of a government’s response to the pandemic has a strong impact on the amount of political trust and support people have in them.

In view of that, persistent assurances that a vaccine is swiftly being developed has increased fears instead of alleviating them in some countries. For instance, the US federal government launched Operation Warp Speed with the aim of delivering a vaccine by January 2021. Their strategy involves manufacturing “at risk”, which means preparing doses for deployment before official approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Given that vaccines typically take at least a decade to produce, such highly accelerated timelines have fuelled doubts about whether safety is being compromised for the sake of speed.

A vaccine can help to end the pandemic — but only if people are willing to take it

As a result, researchers have found that anti-vaccination sentiments are growing in many countries. For instance, a third of Americans have said that they would not get vaccinated even if an affordable Covid-19 vaccine was available. In the UK, one in six people say that they would avoid a vaccine.

Vaccination is a wider public health service that goes beyond individual immunity — it makes entire communities less vulnerable to outbreaks and prevents a contagion from spreading. Researchers have warned that without herd immunity, death tolls will rise, healthcare systems will be even more strained and economies will continue to severely decline. A vaccine can help to end the pandemic – but only if people are willing to take it.

As countries race to put a viable vaccine on the market, governments need to inspire greater acceptance of it now. Here are three ways governments can tackle misinformation to prevent vaccine hesitancy.

Digital Literacy Campaigns

Equipping the public with digital literacy skills that help them recognise misinformation should be a priority for governments. After all, the problem with vaccine misinformation is not just that it exists but that it is easily believed and shared widely, making it easier to encounter online.

In order to teach people these skills, The Government of Canada funded Check First. Share After, a social media campaign run by non-profit organisation MediaSmarts.

Their social media posts contain informative videos, graphics and local celebrities, all with the message: “Before you share, pause, check the source, and make sure it’s legit.” The campaign teaches people to check three things before sharing any content online: where it originates from, whether it is from a trusted expert source, and what public health authorities and the government are saying.

The campaign’s educational website also provides a custom search engine that only produces results from official public health sources, which enables easier access to accurate information. These measures encourage people to critically evaluate what they read and help to increase their resilience against misinformation.

Community Engagement

Digital outreach should also be supplemented by community engagement. A report published by The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security recommends addressing concerns at a grassroots level by mobilising local leaders and personal medical providers.

Well-known members of the community are more likely to be trusted because they have built deeper connections with people in the areas they practice. Tapping on local health officials can lead to more success in communicating accurate information about the vaccine.

For example, in 2015, Liberia launched a campaign to promote immunisation in the wake of the Ebola outbreak. Liberians were worried that getting vaccinated would increase their risk of getting the virus and misinformation about the Ebola vaccine trials exacerbated their fears.

Much the same as the pandemic itself, overcoming this infodemic is a collective effort that requires every individual to play their part

To address vaccine hesitancy, the campaign trained known community members and leaders to convey accurate information through door-to-door visits and community-based dialogues. This helped to drive up vaccination coverage rates significantly and they reached almost 100% of their target. Essential to their success was involving those members of the community.

A survey found that people had more confidence in the vaccination programme because they trusted the social mobilisers, with respondents saying: “We trust our own people. Some of them went for training, so we believe them.”

Private Sector Partnerships

The fight against misinformation also requires the cooperation of another key group – social media companies.

Social media has become a major source of news and information but its accessibility and prevalence also make it the primary platform where misinformation spreads. Governments must acknowledge the role that social media firms have in curbing the spread of misinformation and work with them to improve the online information environment.

The National Health Service (NHS) in England has enlisted the cooperation of Google, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to promote accurate health information and clamp down on fake news. The new measures have taken effect: people searching for news about the virus on Google are now offered verified guidance, while those on Twitter and Facebook are directed to the NHS website. The NHS is also getting Facebook and Instagram to ‘blue tick’ and verify accounts owned by its organisations to highlight reliable information to the public.

Accounts spreading fabricated information have also been directly removed. Through working with Twitter, the NHS suspended a false account which had posed as a hospital and put out inaccurate information. These interventions work to counteract the effects of vaccine misinformation and promote trustworthy sources instead.

Much the same as the pandemic itself, overcoming this infodemic is a collective effort that requires every individual to play their part. As the search for a Covid-19 vaccine continues, governments must begin tackling misinformation with strategic action to empower, educate and protect their people. — Nicole Fan

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(Photo Credit: Governor Tom Wolf on Flickr)