During this same period, WHO revoked the measles eradication status for 4 countries in Europe. In 2019, the United States had the greatest number of measles virus cases reported since 1992. In the immediate aftermath of publication, childhood vaccinations dropped despite the paper being completely retracted in 2010, vaccination hesitancy remains higher than before it was published. Most notable was the since-debunked 1998 study that purported to link the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to the development of autism. It is worth mentioning that the COVID-19 pandemic is not the first time false information has had negative impacts on public health. In this advisory, 5 areas of focus are mentioned: equipping individuals with the tools to identify misinformation expanding research to understand how misinformation spreads and evolves implementing product design and policy changes on technology platforms to slow the spread of misinformation investing in long-term effects to build resilience against health misinformation including the creation of health literacy programs and convening notable officials and research partners to explore the impact of health misinformation and identify best practices for preventing it. 5 In 2021, the Office of the Surgeon General released an advisory on confronting health misinformation, which is believed to undermine public health efforts, create mistrust, and have a detrimental impact on health through vaccine hesitancy and the use of inappropriate treatment modalities. In March 2020, there were approximately 550 million tweets that included either the term coronavirus (or similar) or pandemic. The time line of viral outbreak to global pandemic to infodemic only took 9 months-a testament to how quickly information can be shared in the digital age. In September 2020, the Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization (WHO), and other health alliance groups issued a statement out of concern that the overabundance of information shared during the pandemic was creating barriers to accessing reliable information. 2 The estimated 50% to 70% surge in internet use 3 and the 10.5% uptick in social media use 4 during the first wave of the pandemic, combined with global uncertainty and the search for understanding, fueled the spread of misinformation and disinformation. A study by 3 scholars at Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated all verified true and false stories distributed on Twitter from 2006 to 2017 and found that false information spreads more pervasively than truth online. Social media users can quickly become inundated with information that has no merit if not corroborated by trustworthy resources, false information can run rampant. 1 Although social media allows for convenient news sharing, there is no system to ensure that the information encountered is reliable. Prior to the pandemic, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of adults in the United States got their news on social media. Social media emerged from the late 1990s into the early 2000s and has become a powerful platform for networking, self-expression, and information sharing. This article dives into the detrimental impacts of misinformation on public health, with a special focus on infectious diseases, and reviews initiatives to ensure accurate health messaging in the age of social media. Although there are many examples of false information spread during periods of heightened fear, such as times of war, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks, there was an unprecedented increase during the pandemic due to the pervasiveness of social media. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the impact of misinformation on public health.
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