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President Biden on Anti-Vaccine Misinformation: “They're killing people.”

By 

René F. Najera, DrPH

July 16, 2021

President Biden was asked on his thoughts about anti-vaccine misinformation as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccine, and he had a short-but-stern response: “They're killing people.” As the -- the virus that causes COVID-19 -- has become the predominant strain of the virus in the United States, the epidemiological shift of the disease has meant that the vast majority of those sick, hospitalized, and dying are those who are not vaccinated. In the month of June, . That is a trend that .

, it is now highly unethical to steer someone away from vaccination if they qualify for a vaccine because being unvaccinated places them at the highest risk of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. Nevertheless, the “Disinformation Dozen,” , continue to have an exaggerated influence on people. As a result, the Biden Administration seems to be using to coax social media companies to limit those who spread anti-vaccine misinformation.

On July 15, 2021, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a surgeon general advisory on anti-vaccine misinformation. :

“On Thursday, Dr. Vivek Murthy released the first surgeon general's advisory of his time serving in the Biden administration, describing the "urgent threat" posed by the rise of false information around COVID-19 — one that continues to put "lives at risk" and prolong the pandemic.

Murthy says Americans must do their part to fight misinformation.

COVID has really brought into sharp focus the full extent of damage that health misinformation is doing," Murthy told NPR in an exclusive interview ahead of the advisory's release. Surgeon general's advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that demand immediate attention.

In some cases, he says, the simplest way to stop the spread is to not share something questionable you read online: "If you're not sure, not sharing is often the prudent thing to do."”

In the video above, the White House Press Secretary mentions a singing guest. This is because Olivia Rodrigo, a young and up-and-coming artist, was at the White House the previous day. She was there at the invitation of President Biden to help with efforts in reaching out to the younger age groups (i.e. teenagers) to get vaccinated.

Anti-vaccine misinformation is as old as vaccines themselves. (Perhaps even older, since inoculation faced plenty of attacks when it was used to prevent smallpox outbreaks.) In 1802, a caricature titled was published by The Publications of ye Anti-Vaccine Society. The caricature showed Edward Jenner and his assistants giving the smallpox vaccine, and the recipients turning into animals (cows) and/or having animals protruding from their bodies because of the vaccine.

If those themes in the caricature seem familiar to you, it's because they are. Anti-vaccine elders such as have claimed that the mRNA vaccines are “.” (The mRNA vaccines are not genetic engineering as they do not affect the human genome [DNA] in any way.) His claims have been echoed by anti-vaccine influencers who claim that the vaccines will lead to mutations, cancer, and infertility. As you can see, the claim about mutations is now almost 220 years old.

Whether or not the Biden Administration is successful in getting social media companies to limit the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation on their platforms, those anti-vaccine claims are likely to survive and continue to be spread in some other form, perhaps even person-to-person. The novel coronavirus took a few months to spread worldwide, so it is highly likely that a lie about vaccines -- if big enough and given enough credence by celebrities and former physicians -- can spread worldwide without social media's interference. It can spread just by a simple whisper said in the right way by the wrong person.

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