“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous” – WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Munich Security Conference on Feb 15, 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an infodemic as “an over-abundance of information, some accurate and some not that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.
The WHO strategy to control an infodemic includes these four pillars:
First Pillar: Facilitate Accurate Knowledge Translation
Second Pillar: Knowledge Refinement, Filtering, and Fact-Checking
Third pillar: Build eHealth Literacy
Fourth Pillar: Monitoring, Infodemiology, Infoveillance, and Social Listening
Meanwhile, scientists also monitor social media for clues about how drugs are faring. “Evidence from the real world is valuable, as clinical trials often enroll patients who aren’t representative of the general population. We learn more about drug safety from real-world evidence and can adjust clinical recommendations to balance risk and benefits.” (WSJ) This real-world evidence includes social media posting. And yet, the aggressive fact-checking and censorship of anything negative to the vaccines including reports of personal experiences is removing signals that warn scientists of problems.
Sources:
- February 15, 2020. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Munich Security Conference.” World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/munich-security-conference.
World Health Organization.
This is the transcript of the speech. - February 15, 2020. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 86.” World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200415-sitrep-86-covid-19.pdf.
World Health Organization, PDF. - February 6, 2020. Matt Richtel. “W.H.O. Fights a Pandemic Besides Coronavirus: An ‘Infodemic.’” The New York Times, sec. Health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/health/coronavirus-misinformation-social-media.html.
News. - February 13, 2020. Zoe Thomas. “WHO Says Fake Coronavirus Claims Causing ‘Infodemic.’” BBC News, sec. Technology.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51497800.
News. - February 4, 2020. Chia-Yi Hou. “WHO Warns of Coronavirus ‘infodemic’ — an Epidemic of Too Much Information.” TheHill.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/481387-were-in-an-infodemic-with-too-much-information.
News. - June 26, 2020. Gunther Eysenbach. “How to Fight an Infodemic: The Four Pillars of Infodemic Management.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22 (6): e21820.
https://doi.org/10.2196/21820.
Research Journal. - June 26, 2020. Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Neville Calleja, Tim Nguyen, Tina Purnat, Marcelo D’Agostino, Sebastian Garcia-Saiso, Mark Landry, et al. “Framework for Managing the COVID-19 Infodemic: Methods and Results of an Online, Crowdsourced WHO Technical Consultation.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22 (6): e19659.
https://doi.org/10.2196/19659.
Research Journal.
Related:
- April 9, 2020. Jose Yunam Cuan-Baltazar, Maria José Muñoz-Perez, Carolina Robledo-Vega, Maria Fernanda Pérez-Zepeda, and Elena Soto-Vega. “Misinformation of COVID-19 on the Internet: Infodemiology Study.” JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 6 (2): e18444.
https://doi.org/10.2196/18444.
Research Journal. - February 15, 2021. Bin Chen, Xinyi Chen, Jin Pan, Kui Liu, Bo Xie, Wei Wang, Ying Peng, Fei Wang, Na Li, and Jianmin Jiang. “Dissemination and Refutation of Rumors During the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Infodemiology Study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 23 (2): e22427.
https://doi.org/10.2196/22427.
Research Journal. - December 15, 2020. Elaine Okanyene Nsoesie, Nina Cesare, Martin Müller, and Al Ozonoff. “COVID-19 Misinformation Spread in Eight Countries: Exponential Growth Modeling Study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22 (12): e24425.
https://doi.org/10.2196/24425.
Research Journal. - August 25, 2020. Alessandro Rovetta, and Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula. “Global Infodemiology of COVID-19: Analysis of Google Web Searches and Instagram Hashtags.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22 (8): e20673.
https://doi.org/10.2196/20673.
Research Journal. - June 22, 2021. Joseph A. Ladapo and Harvey A. Risch. “Opinion | Are Covid Vaccines Riskier Than Advertised?” Wall Street Journal, sec. Opinion.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-covid-vaccines-riskier-than-advertised-11624381749.
News.