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The Surgeon General's advisory lays out how to better identify and avoid sharing health misinformation, engage with the community on the issue and develop local strategies against misinformation. "So what we've done here at Duke is to create a system that can help Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter find fact checks more easily, match them with inaccurate content," said Bill Adair, a Knight professor in the practice of journalism and public policy at the university. "And that's not how the vaccine works."Īt Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, experts are taking steps to catch misinformation before it spreads. "I've also had a lot of patients worried that the vaccine could give them COVID," Lucas said. The vaccine is not a treatment for the disease, and in fact, doctors recommend against getting the vaccine if you're currently battling a COVID-19 infection. Some have told her they want to wait to take the vaccine until they become infected, believing it can cure the virus. Julia Lucas, a family nurse practictioner, said she's heard a lot of false claims from patients at her clinics in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. A sizeable portion of the population is still resisting the push to get a COVID-19 vaccine. tackling this challenge will require an all-of-society approach, but it is critical for the long-term health of our nation."Īnd eight months into the pandemic, the effects of that misinformation is apparent. "As Surgeon General, my job is to help people stay safe and healthy, and without limiting the spread of health misinformation, American lives are at risk. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic," Murthy said in a statement. "Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health. The advisory also digs into social media platforms as having greatly contributed to the "unprecedented speed and scale" of misinformation's spread and Murthy calls on technology and social media companies to "take more responsibility to stop online spread of health misinformation." Growing polarization, including in the political sphere, may also contribute to the spread of misinformation." "Distrust of the health care system due to experiences with racism and other inequities may make it easier for misinformation to spread in some communities. "Misinformation tends to flourish in environments of significant societal division, animosity, and distrust," the advisory says. While Murthy doesn't call out by name any of the Republican elected officials who have criticized a distorted interpretation of Biden administration's vaccine push, he does suggest accountable "stakeholders" in the fight against misinformation include public officeholders as important public messengers. The decision to elevate this issue in his first official advisory comes as some Republicans have used the government's coronavirus response and vaccine messaging as a political wedge. It frames misinformation as having hindered vaccination efforts, sown mistrust, caused people to reject public health measures, use unproven treatments, prolonged the pandemic and put lives at risk. Vivek Murthy's advisory - the first under the Biden administration - addresses an epidemic of misinformation and disinformation, and its pernicious impact on public health - specifically threatening the U.S. WASHINGTON - The surgeon general is warning Americans about the "urgent threat of health misinformation" amid the government's current push to boost stalling vaccination rates.ĭr. They then spread the word, vaccines save lives.Īkarasis Maksas, Vaccine Outreach Team, Congo Ministry of Health (through translator): Pastors need to care not just about the spiritual health of their community, but also about the general well-being of their community.Īnd for kids, with regards to vaccines, they need to find an environment that is favorable to their well-being.The advisory says combatting misinformation is a "moral and civic responsibility" on an individual and institutional level. Children's Fund and Ministry of Health campaign, the leaders from many of these parishes in Kinshasa get a VIP behind-the-scenes tour and see for themselves the high-tech infrastructure required to refrigerate and store the country's stock of vaccines. And those churches are sometimes hot spots of vaccine hesitancy.Īs part of a U.N. Community leaders are often brought here to learn about vaccines and the influence of disinformation.ĭRC is home to huge revivalist Christian ministries. This vaccine storage facility on the outskirts of Kinshasa is one of the largest in Africa, but it's not just a warehouse. And restoring trust, not just in the COVID-19 vaccine, but in all routine vaccinations, starts here at Kinshasa's central vaccine warehouse.
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