Social media is a main driver for propagating negative connotations about vaccinations, according to a new report by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).
Vaccinations
The Moving the Needle report states that whilst the UK maintains world-leading levels of vaccine coverage, public concern over side side-effects of vaccinations continue to be a barrier to uptake.
Social media in particular continues to be a major concern for spreading negative messages about vaccines, especially for parents. The report shows that two in five parents (41%) are often exposed to negative messages above vaccines on social media. For parents with children under five years old, this figure increased to as many as one in two (50%).
The RSPH is now calling for a number of actions to help improve and maintain the uptake of vaccinations in the UK.
These include efforts to limit ‘fake news’ surrounding vaccinations with social media platforms making more efforts to stem false information. The report also calls for vaccinations to be offered to in a more diverse range of locations and for reminder services to be improved and diversified. This could include social media pop-ups for those who forget appointments.
Some of the major barriers to vaccination include timing, availability and location of appointments, the report shows.
The report also shows that attitudes to vaccines are largely positive, with 91% of parents stating that vaccines are important for their children’s health. More so, there is strong trust in healthcare professionals with doctors and nurses highly valued as useful sources of information.
Worryingly, there is quite a low understanding of the key concepts of vaccination, with over a quarter of people (28%) believing you can have too many vaccinations.
Shirley Cramer CBE, chief executive, RSPH said: “Vaccinations are one of the most powerful tools we have for protecting and improving the public’s health, saving millions of lives every year across the globe. The value of vaccinations throughout life should not be underestimated.
In the UK, we are fortunate to have a fantastic, world-leading vaccination programme, with excellent levels of coverage. However, we should never be complacent: history has taught us that fear and misinformation about vaccines can cause substantial damage to even the strongest vaccination programmes.
With the rise of social media, we must guard against the spread of ‘fake news’ about vaccinations. We have found worrying levels of exposure to negative messages about vaccinations on social media, and the spread of misinformation – if it impacts uptake of vaccines – could severely damage the public’s health.
It is 21 years since Andrew Wakefield published his infamous and now widely discredited paper on an alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism, and Europe is still living with the consequences – as we have seen with the resurgence in measles rates in recent years. In the 21st Century it would be unacceptable to allow vaccine-preventable diseases to make a comeback, and it is vital we do all we can to ensure the UK maintains its status as a global leader in vaccination.”