Fake news can peril vaccine rollout: W.H.O

PARIS: As early as February, with the global pandemic spreading fast, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a warning about an “infodemic”, a wave of fake news and misinformation about the deadly new disease on social media.

Now, with hopes hanging on Covid-19 vaccines, the WHO and experts are warning those same phenomena may jeopardise rollout of immunisation programmes meant to bring an end to the suffering.

“The coronavirus disease is the first pandemic in history in which technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, informed, productive and connected,” the WHO said.

“At the same time, the technology we rely on to keep connected and informed is enabling and amplifying an infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardises measures to control the pandemic.”

Beyond logistics, though, governments must also contend with scepticism over vaccines developed with record speed at a time when social media has been both a tool for information and falsehood about the virus.

The WHO defined an infodemic as an overabundance of information, both online and offline, including “deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information”.

Last month, a study from Cornell University in the United States found that US President Donald Trump has been the world’s biggest driver of Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic. – AFP