Social media and the spread of polio vaccination myths and their effects on child immunization

By Misbah Naz

Polio is still one of the most dangerous diseases that can be prevented and this is one of those rare countries where the virus is present in Pakistan. Despite continuous nationwide vaccination campaigns, misinformation, especially through social media has become a major barrier to eradicating polio. Disinformation spread through Facebook, WhatsApp and TikTok has had a profound impact on parents’ attitudes, and resulted in vaccine hesitancy and missed immunization opportunities. One of the greatest misconceptions that is common on the internet is that taking the polio vaccine leads to infertility or harmful ingredients to damage a child’s health. It is scientifically untrue that these claims are correct. The WHO says the oral polio vaccine (OPV) has been in use for decades and is safe and has helped to immunize more than 2.5 billion children around the world. But false videos and forwarded messages are often sending false information, which in turn, are giving false sense of panic among parents even more so in less-educated and rural communities. Another common misinformation myth is that vaccination drives are a part of foreign agendas. These may have been associated with a decrease in trust of the health workers, or sometimes with parents refusing vaccination teams at their doorstep. The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) states it is misinformation that continues to haunt vaccine coverage rate in some of the districts of Pakistan. Emotionally charged and sensational content as put forward by social media algorithms continues to exacerbate this problem, irrespective of the accuracy of the text. A misguided post can be reshared by thousands of people within hours, to communities which have been extremely dependent on mobile telephones for information. Research has found that fake health information is more likely than factual health information to be passed on online. The implications are very serious. When children are not immunized, they may be exposed to poliovirus infection and live in fear of being paralyzed for life. In the past few years, Pakistan has been seeing sporadic cases of poliovirus that have all been attributed by health authorities to unimmunized pockets of hesitant communities. Addressing the challenge, digital awareness campaigns and partnerships with influencers, and quick responises from health workers are advised. There has also been successful community engagement via religious leaders and local health workers when it comes to rebuilding trust. To sum-up, vaccines for polio are both safe and lifesaving, and the scourge of misinformation continues to work its way throughout social media platforms because of it. Steps need to be taken to challenge these myths to safeguard all children and reduce the risk of polio affecting Pakistan again.