action against anti-vaxxers

How Facebook is extending beyond social media

In the aftermath of the retracted 1998 Wakefield et. al article diving into the erroneous cause-and-effect relationship between receiving immunizations and developing autism, there has been a ludicrous wave of people refusing to vaccinate their children. Yes, you heard this right. People are choosing not to protect their kids against the horrors of a multitude of diseases and illnesses although vaccine efficacy has proven to be 80-99%. Although I cannot speak to their decision, I can spill facts about how they try to persuade others into their thinking – one way being through Facebook advertisements and groups. You may think this social media platform would not be compelling, but according to a March 2019 article, 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger (who notably decided to get vaccinated against his mother’s wishes) testified that his mom did in fact use only Facebook or Facebook-linked sites for all of her information on the anti-vaccination movement. This proves how quickly severely misleading or downright fake information can circulate on the Internet and especially social media platforms.

HOW FACEBOOK CAN PUT A STOP TO THIS MOVEMENT

In an effort to put an end to this misinformation flow, Facebook recently announced that it will no longer recommend these anti-vaccination groups and block advertisements that promote their goals. It is important to note that the company itself is attempting to reduce the amount of people who see this content without censoring it completely. I think this move is quite beneficial as The World Health Organization came out with a statement saying that “vaccine hesitancy” is one of the top global threats to healthcare of 2019, and Facebook could be a platform that unintentionally spreads this reluctance to vaccines. Facebook putting a stop to these fraudulent claims is quite honorable if you think about it, as the spread of health misinformation can create real damage in our communities and world today. If Facebook is able to curb the falsified accounts of the anti-vaccination movement, then I believe there would be a huge decrease in the number of people who choose not to immunize their children, leading to healthier discussion about this movement and healthcare as a whole.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE ANTI-VAXXER MOVEMENT

While reading another article into this issue, I was intrigued by another perspective into the anti-vaccination movement. It is a principle of this campaign that the government has no right to force parents to vaccinate their kids before they enter public school. And yes, I believe that everyone has the right to their own body and their own decisions. I acknowledge the fact that the government should not force anyone to do anything against their own will, however we have rules for a reason. There have been decades of authorized research behind the science of vaccinations and its efficacy. It is important that everyone is vaccinated in order to eradicate certain illnesses and to keep our people safe.  And just because the anti-vaccination movement is endorsed by (discredited) theories that vaccines cause autism (which is not the worst thing in the world, by the way) does not make this faction legitimate. So please, for the love of herd immunity, go get your kids vaccinated!!!