Tiktok and online influencers to help combat fake news on jabs

A SOCIAL media campaign involving influencers and scientists on Tiktok is needed to counter anti-vaccine “misinformation”, experts have said.

Religious leaders and prominent figures in black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities have also been mooted as a way to counter the widespread falsehoods circulating on prospective vaccines for coronavirus.

Dr Daisy Fancourt, an epidemiologist and the lead investigator of the Covid-19 Social Study, told the London Assembly health committee: “Lots of misinformation and fake news has been circulating about vaccines and that will only intensify. There’s not been much use of social media influencers, but things like that are effective at getting people on side.”

Last week a Russian campaign designed to undermine and spread disinformation about the Oxford University vaccine was exposed by The Times newspaper. Pictures, video clips and viral memes devised in Russia implied that the vaccine could turn patients into monkeys as a result of a chimpanzee virus being used as a vector.

Other false or misleading claims made by anti-vaxxers about Covid-19 across social media have included the suggestion that a vaccine would cause infertility and implant microchips.

Dr Fancourt added that a pro-vaccine campaign was needed because trust in politicians among Britons was “very low” compared with six months ago.

“It’s crucial that the Government continues to promote vaccines, but we’ve got to have a strategy involving other stakeholders,” she said.

“That’ll bring in some of the issues about reaching BAME communities, and bringing in social media influencers where people are already used to listening to and trusting these voices.”