Anti-vaccine billboard ruled misleading

A billboard in West Kelowna that suggested vaccines for COVID-19 were worse than the disease was misleading and promoted fear, a regulatory body says.

The billboard from Vaccine Choice Canada broke rules relating to accuracy, clarity, safety, and superstitions, the Ad Standards council ruled in a recent decision.

“(We) have no evidence before us to support the proposition that the vaccine was, or could be, worse than contracting COVID-19 as a general proposition. As such, the ad was found to be misleading,” the council said in its decision.

Several complaints about the billboard had been received by Ad Standards. It read: ‘Covid. Is the cure worse than the illness?’

“Taken in the context of global pandemic and the possibility that ‘cure’ could mean vaccine, sowing this doubt could contribute to vaccine hesitancy by playing upon fears rather than providing facts,” Ad Standards said.