This archive report was first published on 29 June 2020.
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, a small but vocal group of anti-vaxxers has seized the opportunity to spread misinformation about vaccines.
Despite the lack of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, anti-vaxxers have created and shared false claims about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, often using social media platforms to reach a wider audience.
One such example is the video 'Plandemic,' which claims that the COVID-19 crisis was a government setup. The video has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and other streaming platforms.
Experts warn that the anti-vax rhetoric is not new, but has gained huge visibility during the pandemic. Sylvain Delouvee, a researcher in social psychology at the University of Rennes, notes that social media has created a highly-efficient 'echo chamber' for anti-vaxxers, allowing them to reach people across the political divide.
According to the 2018 Wellcome Global Monitor, about 80 percent of people worldwide believe that vaccines are safe. However, the anti-vax movement 'could amplify outbreaks' of COVID-19, as was the case for the 2019 measles outbreak, according to researchers who published a study in the scientific journal Nature.
The World Health Organization has classified 'vaccine hesitancy' as one of its 10 threats to global health in 2019.
