Injecting doubt: responding to the naturopathic anti-vaccination rhetoric

Caulfield, Timothy; Marcon, Alessandro R.; Murdoch, Blake

doi:10.1093/jlb/lsx017

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Thus, the spread of distrust acts as a strategy to promoters of alternative therapies: in doing so, they affirm themselves as trusted sources for the audience and create potential consumers to the courses, books, and therapies they sell. The association between vaccine opposition and alternative health services has been made several times before (Ernst, 2001;Busse et al, 2008;Kata, 2010); for instance, Caulfield et al (2017) analyzed 330 naturopath websites to understand the role of complementary and alternative medicine providers on the vaccine hesitation, and found that 40 of them presented antivaccination rhetoric, while 26 promoted vaccine alternatives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

2020

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In this study, we investigate misinformation and disinformation (M&D) about vaccines using a case study approach to understand how M&D about vaccines circulate on YouTube in Portuguese, and who are the channels creating and disseminating this kind of content. The World Health Organization considered vaccine hesitation as one of the greatest threats to global health in 2019. Researchers associated this hesitation to a strengthening of the anti-vaccination movements, suggesting that social media is currently the main spreader of this position. YouTube increasingly becomes a matter of concern, since its recommendation system is identified as a promoter of misinformation and extreme content. Despite YouTube's statements, M&D about vaccines continue to be disseminated in videos in Portuguese, reaching a large audience. We found 52 videos containing M&D about vaccines. The main M&D were the claim of dangerous ingredients in vaccines, the defense of self-direction-freedom of choice, independent research-, the promotion of alternative health services, the myth that vaccines cause diseases, conspiracy theories, and the allegation of vaccine's severe collateral effects. We identified 39 brands advertising on 13 videos of our M&D sample. Although the YouTube Partner Program is an important source of income, the channels use different economic strategies, such as the selling of courses, and therapies and the use of fundraising platforms. We also found that alternative health channels spread distrust about traditional institutions to promote themselves as trusted sources for the audience and thereby profit with alternative health services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

2020

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“…The use of misleading information in marketing alternative therapies for significant medical problems and the misuse of authority to signify authenticity was of particular concern. This growth in such services, and the lack of regulatory oversight of activities on the fringe of the Canada Food and Drug Act, has been highlighted by several researchers (Caulfield, Marcon, & Murdoch, ; Weeks, ). The findings here support the view that the Internet provides an effective and practically unregulated medium for some alternative health practitioners to openly market experimental and unproven services directly to the public.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet health scams—Developing a taxonomy and risk‐of‐deception assessment tool

Garrett

Murphy

Jamal

et al. 2018

Health Soc Care Community

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The prevalence of health scams in Canada is increasing, facilitated by the rise of the Internet. However, little is known about the nature of this phenomena. This study sought to methodically identify and categorise Internet-based Health Scams (IHS) currently active in Canada, creating an initial taxonomy based on systematic Internet searches. A five-step Delphi approach, comprised of a multidisciplinary panel of health professionals from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, was used to establish consensus. The resulting taxonomy is the first to characterise the nature of IHS in North America. Five core areas of activity were identified: body image products, medical products, alternative health services, healthy lifestyle products, and diagnostic testing services. IHS purveyors relied on social expectations and psychological persuasion techniques to target consumers. Persuasion techniques included social engagement, claims of miraculous effects, scarcity, and the use of pseudoscientific language. These techniques exploited personality traits of sensation seeking, needing self-control, openness to taking risks, and the preference for uniqueness. The data gathered from the taxonomy allowed the Delphi panel to develop and pilot a simple risk-of-deception tool. This tool is intended to help healthcare professionals educate the public about IHS. It is suggested that, where relevant, healthcare professionals include a general discussion of IHS risks and marketing techniques with clients as a part of health promotion activities.

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“…Given the positive nature of representations of influenza vaccination in popular newspapers and the generally evidence-based perspectives presented, we can reasonably conclude that, in Canada, misinformation and antivaccination rhetoric are coming primarily from other sources [30] . There is concern that vaccination misinformation often spreads online through social media and alternative medicine marketing efforts [ 15 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Recent research has shown the majority of American adults look online for health information [34] , and further study of non-journalistic online sources of vaccine information and discourse would be beneficial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has demonstrated that media representations exhibiting false balance between pro and anti-vaccination camps [12] , regardless of the overwhelming evidence base in support of vaccination [13] , can strongly influence readers' intention to vaccinate themselves or their children [14] . This confusion can potentially be compounded by anti-vaccination rhetoric that is present online, through social media or via advertising by naturopaths and other alternative medicine practitioners [ 15 , 16 ]. Mass media, such as television and newspapers, has been identified as one of the most important sources of influenza vaccination information for the general public [17] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influenza vaccination discourse in major Canadian news media, 2017–2018

Murdoch

Caulfield

2018

Heliyon

Self Cite

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Influenza vaccine uptake is less-than-ideal in many jurisdictions, including Canada. In this study we sought to assess news articles relating to influenza vaccination by major Canadian newspapers during a six-month period relatively congruent to the seasonal influenza outbreak for 2017–2018. We identified 116 unique articles published between August 16, 2017 and February 15, 2018, then developed and applied a coding frame to them.Influenza vaccination was portrayed primarily positively (74.14%), sometimes negatively (14.66%), and occasionally neutrally (11.21%). Articles were most commonly focused on news about the prevalence, or amount of harm/death caused by, the influenza virus (31.03%), or on public announcements primarily concerning influenza vaccination (17.24%). Benefits of influenza vaccination were often stated (59.48%), most commonly including reduction in disease (47.41%) and protection of vulnerable individuals (26.72%). Issues or problems with influenza vaccination were also often stated (55.17%), most commonly relating to low or non-effectiveness of the vaccine (43.10%). Most articles stated that people should get vaccinated (65.52%).Canadian newspaper articles generally support the scientific consensus that influenza vaccination is a highly positive intervention. Nonetheless, a clear picture of the true value of influenza vaccination may sometimes be missing in articles focusing on low effectiveness and lacking any mention of vaccination's positive value. Overall, we can reasonably conclude that, in Canada, misinformation and antivaccination rhetoric are coming primarily from sources other than newspapers.

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Injecting doubt: responding to the naturopathic anti-vaccination rhetoric

Cited by 22 publications

References 4 publications

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

Internet health scams—Developing a taxonomy and risk‐of‐deception assessment tool

Influenza vaccination discourse in major Canadian news media, 2017–2018

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