U.S. Surgeon General, Rockefeller Foundation Announce Big Initiatives to Address ‘Urgent Threat’ of Vaccine Misinformation
Posted on July 19, 2021 By Melissa Lane 3 Commentson U.S. Surgeon General, Rockefeller Foundation Announce Big Initiatives to Address ‘Urgent Threat’ of Vaccine Misinformation
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on Thursday issued an advisory warning to the American public about the “urgent threat” of health misinformation and disinformation that have “threatened the U.S. response to COVID-19 and continue to prevent Americans from getting vaccinated, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk.” The same day, The Rockefeller Foundation announced $13.5 million in new funding to combat vaccine “misinformation and disinformation.”
The 22-page advisory calls on Big Tech and social media companies to take more responsibility to stop the online spread of health misinformation.
The advisory blamed “misinformation” for causing people to decline COVID vaccines, reject public health measures such as masking and physical distancing, and using unproven treatments.
Murthy, who operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a press release, “As Surgeon General, my job is to help people stay safe and healthy, and without limiting the spread of health misinformation, American lives are at risk.”
According to the HHS press release, whether “health misinformation” is false, inaccurate, or misleading will be determined by the “best available evidence.”
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The advisory further defined the “best available evidence” standard as the preferred benchmark because “claims can be highly misleading and harmful even if the science on an issue isn’t yet settled.”
“We can meaningfully improve the health information environment even without a consensus definition of misinformation,” Murthy said.
Developing a national strategy to prevent and respond to COVID-19 and future public health misinformation and disinformation is an important first step in establishing a solution set to this threat. The priorities that should guide the development of a national strategy are:
Pillar 1: Intervene against false and damaging content as well as the sources propagating it
Establish a multiagency national security response effort that prioritizes management of public health disinformation, from both domestic and international sources, as a national security issue in order to prevent disinformation campaigns and educate the public on their use.
Establish a national nonpartisan commission that provides neutral evidence-based guidance and recommendations in order to improve the health communication landscape in ways that limit misleading information and ensure accountability for and identification of sources of misleading information.
Encourage active, transparent, nonpartisan intervention from social media and news media companies to identify and remove, control the spread of, and curtail generators of false information.
Pillar 2: Promote and ensure the abundant presence and dissemination of factual information
Prioritize public health risk communication at the federal, state, and local levels in public health departments and academic research communities by including training and resources on specific messaging and by increasing staffing, funding, and research support.
Increase coordination between public health experts and sources of public information, including social media platforms and news media to increase the dissemination of accurate information through multiple channels.
Pillar 3: Increase the public’s resilience to misinformation and disinformation
Safeguard and promote health and digital literacy through multiple sources including schools, community organizations, social media, news media, and others to help information consumers choose responsible sources of information and increase their awareness of disinformation tactics and approaches.
Improve resources for public verification of questionable content through the development of a robust fact-checking infrastructure with support, training, and guiding principles for fact-checking organizations.
Pillar 4: Ensure a whole-of-nation response through multisector and multiagency collaboration
Ensure multisector collaboration in the development of a national strategy to combat public health misinformation through collective planning with social media, news media, government, national security officials, public health officials, scientists, the public, and others.
Increase coordination across the range of government stakeholders and conduct a cross-governmental analysis of efforts and responsibilities for managing health-related misinformation and disinformation to streamline and organize efforts. Key US agencies include the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Homeland Security as well as intelligence agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency. (see the full document).