Ante up with Anti-vaxxers

Ever since the defamation case of Andrew Wakefield, the public perception of vaccines has taken a tumble. People who refuse to and advocate against vaccinating themselves and their children can be found readily on the internet and on social media platforms. Even in communities where the anti-vaccination opinion is less prevalent, the subject of vaccination remains a hot topic of conversation. At the heart of it all, anti-vaxxers, as they’re called, hold skepticism and disdain towards those who would tell them what to do or merely shove facts in their face for no more reason than “because science said so”. Pro-vaxxers, on the other hand, are concerned that anti-vaxxers are not only gambling their own lives away, but also endangering those around them when such a simple is readily available in a developed nation such as the United States. This debate has even spread to people who aren’t as informed on either side, leading to what’s known as vaccine hesitancy.

However, this stubbornness of both sides may be due to a lack of proper education or communication, as is often the case with scientific debate. The Canadian Communicable Disease Report recently published an article discussing effective methods for communicating information to address vaccine hesitancy. It describes how much of the current ways vaccine facts are communicated are not only insensitive, but also improperly presented. This is often the case in social media conversations, where the interactions between anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers appears more like warfare than a civilized discussion; the facts presented to the anti-vaxxers may even make them more resolute in their beliefs. The fact that this report was endorsed by the Canadian government highlights the severity of the situation surrounding vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.

The question then arises: how did this scientific schism even reach such a state? A paper in the scientific journal Vaccine notes that user-based Facebook advertising has significantly contributed to the dissemination of vaccine-related misinformation. These ad campaigns are similar to targeted political ad campaigns; they merely polarize users’ beliefs by selectively exposing users to what they already know and agree with. Moreover, the misinformation is easily spread on a social media platform where sharing scientifically questionable articles and posts are merely a click away. Unless something drastic is implemented regarding this misinformation, more and more people are going to succumb to the gamble of refusing vaccination.