The impact of misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

<abstract> <p>Since the inception of the current pandemic, COVID-19 related misinformation has played a role in defaulting control of the situation. It has become evident that the internet, social media, and other communication outlets with readily available data have contributed to the dissemination and availability of misleading information. It has perpetuated beliefs that led to vaccine avoidance, mask refusal, and utilization of medications with insignificant scientific data, ultimately contributing to increased morbidity. Undoubtedly, misinformation has become a challenge and a burden to individual health, public health, and governments globally. We performed a literature search of databases such as Pubmed, Google, GoogleScholar. The key descriptors used for the search purposes were “COVID-19”, “Coronavirus”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “communication”, “healthcare”, “misinformation”, and “social media”. This literature review aims at providing an overview and summary regarding the role of media, other information outlets, and their impact on the pandemic. The goal of this article is to increase awareness of the negative impact of misinformation on the pandemic. In addition, we discuss a few recommendations that could aid in decreasing this burden, as preventing the conception and dissemination of misinformation is essential.</p> </abstract>

Immune Literacy: a Call to Action for a System-Level Change

“…Increased immune literacy would have broad implications for combatting the spread of misinformation within society and would create a feedback loop to increase the likelihood that individuals will follow public health recommendations. With proper education, leading to immune literacy, individuals would be more likely to intervene in the dissemination of misinformation and much less inclined to share misinformation because they are well informed ( 2 ). This would then have the potential to decrease the amplification of misinformation pertaining to the use of vaccines or therapeutics to combat endemic and emerging infectious diseases.…”

A Comparison of the 1918 and 2019 Pandemics in the United States

“…The results were that many citizens believed that the virus was no worse than the flu, refused to use in mitigation strategies, used inappropriate and often dangerous medications, did not trust science-based interventions to prevent or treat infection, and were hesitant or refused to get vaccinated once a vaccine was developed. In addition, there were significant shortages of personal protective equipment to protect frontline healthcare workers, inadequate supplies to care for COVID-19 patients, and rationing of ventilators 24,25 . The result was that many more US citizens died of COVID-19 than needed to die, 26 and others continue to have persistent symptoms after recovering from the initial infection 26–30 …”

Design and implementation of a health messaging protocol employed for use within a COVID-19 health dissemination platform

“…Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an abundance of misinformation ( 1 – 3 ), rapidly changing science, and a lack of access to reliable COVID-19 information has hindered United States mitigation efforts ( 4 ). Ambiguous and contradictory health recommendations also lead to significant losses of the public's trust in governmental organizations and science ( 5 ). Researchers at the University of Arizona identified a critical need to create a mutually beneficial platform to (1) provide local Arizona residents' with access to critical, continually evolving COVID-19 information and (2) assist scientists in collecting COVID-19 data.…”