This blog was written by Reese Hrannarsson, who volunteered at Results while visiting the UK as part of her degree programme at Florida State University.
Vaccination is one of the great public health wins, but as we celebrate World Immunisation Week, we need to recognise the risks that misinformation and vaccine hesitancy pose to global health. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. The world seemed like it stood still: social distancing, mask mandates, and online schooling became a new reality. With the incredibly rapid rise in cases, a safe and efficient vaccine roll out was critical to save lives and protect people from this public health threat. However this was far from universally accepted. I witnessed the State Government in my home state of Florida downplay the pandemic, refuse to publish basic data and foster an environment of mistrust and hesitancy towards vaccines.
Florida Governor Ron Desantis was a staunch critic of COVID vaccines in the state. In 2021, Desantis signed a bill to block private businesses from requiring workers to be vaccinated. That same year, he named Dr. Joseph Ladapo as Florida’s surgeon general, the top public health official of the state, despite Ladapo’s deep opposition to vaccine mandates and history of spreading medical misinformation. Namely, he altered findings in a COVID-19 vaccine safety study to state that the vaccine was dangerous to young men. The Florida Department of Health withheld data of deaths and infection rates, and once forced to release it after several lawsuits, they understated the death toll and gave more weight to negative test results in their data. Living in Florida, I saw first-hand how the misinformation of the pandemic’s severity and proper protections against it led to catastrophic carelessness in regards to the health and safety of the state. Florida ranked third in the highest COVID-19 mortality rate by March 2023.
The increased use of social media for news information amplified the amount of vaccine misinformation being spread. During the peak of COVID-19, for many, it was the only way to gain knowledge about current events. A study by the National Library of Medicine found that among Americans with internet access, “76% claimed to rely on social media at least somewhat for news about the coronavirus pandemic.” The lack of fact-checking on social media platforms gave users the ability to spread conspiracy theories on the vaccine, including claims that it would alter DNA and that it would implant microchips inside people’s arms so the government could track them.
This spread of misinformation fed into vaccine hesitancy in the United States, with many Americans hesitating or simply refusing to take the vaccine in fear of their health or security. Vaccine confidence fell with a 2023 study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania finding that only 71% of Americans think that vaccines approved for use in the US are safe. This is a 6% fall since April 2021. The percentage of adults who don’t think that approved vaccines are safe almost doubled from 9% to 16%. But this doesn’t just stop at COVID-19: Americans are less likely to consider the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and pneumonia vaccines safe as well.
Seeing this lack of trust in vaccines in my home country and the impact it had on people’s health and safety demonstrates the importance of informing citizens with the right information around immunisation and getting people vaccinated. With this week being World Immunisation Week, it is more important than ever to encourage vaccinations not just in the US but around the world.
The fight for global health is far from over. Tuberculosis for instance, a preventable and curable disease, still affects 10 million people a year, killing 1.3 million in 2022. It is the world’s deadliest infectious disease and it’s getting harder to treat with the usual medicines. This is known as drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), a form of antimicrobial resistance. In 2022, there were about 410,000 DR-TB cases and only 20% of people infected could access treatment. Drug-resistant tuberculosis also remains responsible for one-third of all deaths caused by antimicrobial resistance. Polio is another devastating yet preventable disease that without full eradication remains a risk to all. Despite being 99.9% eradicated globally, factors such as COVID-19, political tensions, and the spread of misinformation are disrupting critical vaccination efforts, causing an alarming rise in cases. Due to its high transmission rate, until polio is completely eradicated, all countries are at risk, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunisation services.
These issues are happening right under our feet too. In 2018, the UK lost its World Health Organisation endemic measles elimination status after gaining it in 2017 (based on 2014-2016 data). Just earlier this year, the UK had a sharp rise in measles cases with the MMR vaccination uptake rate at its lowest level in a decade at 85%. The NHS estimates that one person infected with measles could pass it to 15 unvaccinated people, only furthering the need for higher MMR vaccination rates.
We must call on the UK Government to commit to making a strong financial commitment to organisations such as Gavi which improves access to new and under-used vaccines for millions of the most vulnerable children around the world and is entering into its next replenishment cycle. This also goes for investing in vaccine research and innovation, leading to new, more effective vaccine options. Without further financial commitments, treatable diseases like polio or tuberculosis will continue to threaten the health of millions of people, causing thousands of preventable deaths.
We should also encourage the UK Government to talk about vaccination positively, increasing the chance that citizens will vaccinate themselves and their children against future diseases. The UK Government and social media companies must continue to work together to regulate content spreading vaccine misinformation on social media. They have made it a priority to make COVID-19 vaccine information accessible to the public, however, it is imperative that they apply that to other diseases to prevent another pandemic as well.
It is imperative that we increase immunisation worldwide in order to meet Sustainable Development Goal 3 – ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages – to prevent people from becoming infected with diseases that can cause lifelong harm. Immunisation saves lives, and we must ensure that it is accessible to everyone.