Paris (AFP)

The vaccine against Covid does not exist but anti-vaccines are already against and multiply the infox: "It will inject electronic chips", "will poison people" ... Already very present on the internet for years, the galaxy " antivax "is" energized "and made more visible by the pandemic.

The "Plandemic" video has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and other platforms since May. Among the multitude of infoxes she relays on the Covid: "the vaccines have killed millions of people". As for this list of substances with worrying names (phenoxyethanol, potassium chloride etc ...) supposed to be contained in vaccines in toxic quantities (which is not the case), it has been shared thousands of times on Facebook end of April.

Under these publications, hundreds or even thousands of comments from Internet users who already say that they do not plan to be vaccinated.

Researchers around the world have embarked on a race against time to find a vaccine, hopefully a vaccine in several months, at best.

- "Echo chamber" -

Vaccine opposition does not date from the Internet or the Covid but Facebook, Twitter or YouTube have created "a kind of echo chamber" very effective for anti-vaccine infoxes, explains Sylvain Delouvée, researcher in social psychology at University of Rennes 2, which recalls the clear "scientific consensus" in favor of vaccination.

Despite the willingness of these platforms to limit the virality of anti-vaccine content, they proliferate there, and derive disproportionate importance, said Mr. Delouvée.

Highly motivated, strongly linked to conspiracy in general, "multifaceted, with no clearly defined identity", the anti-vaccine galaxy on the internet is fueled by several discourses, often going beyond political cleavages, like the criticism of "Big Pharma", also explains M Delouvée, which notes the "same resurgence" of information as before the pandemic.

Some re-emerge as is - like this visual wrongly claiming that vaccines contain exactly the same as lethal injections of death row inmates - others with, in addition, a reference to Covid.

In reality, it is difficult to know "if the opponents of the vaccines are more active because of the pandemic or if they are more visible because of the very important attention given to the pandemic", notes David Broniatowski, of the American University George Washington.

"The groups + antivax + (...) tend to be very active all the time, (the Covid) just" revitalized "them," thinks Amelia Jamison, from the University of Maryland in the United States.

The current crisis shows their ability to recycle information very quickly to adapt it to current events, she continues.

Thus, if the theories accusing Bill Gates of wanting to vaccinate by force were already in circulation before the current period, they experienced a new youth, with particular success for that accusing him of wanting to take advantage of the Covid to inject an electronic chip via a vaccine.

"A new virus means a new event that will enter their narrative scheme and (...) that they will coincide with their vision of the world," explains Ms. Jamison. So, for these ultra-determined activists, the mere mention of a vaccine "has become + we are going to be vaccinated by force".

She notes in this respect a specificity specific to Covid: the frequent junction between anti-vaccines, anti-masks and anti-confinements, in the name of individual freedom against the authorities, an ideology very present in the United States.

- "Groundswell" -

Sylvain Delouvée talks about a "bottom line that continues to progress again and again", with anti-vaccines that "occupy the field" on the internet.

However, these are "small groups", notes Amelia Jamison, not necessarily very numerous but very sonorous, very experienced, handling perfectly "the tools at their disposal" to "appear larger and more unified than they are" and effectively "target" those who do not have a clear opinion on the subject.

On the internet, one can have the impression that it is "50/50" between "pro" and "anti", or "in real life, it is not the case at all", she continues.

Noting "the recent explosion of anti-vaccination theories" on the internet, the authors of a study published in Nature, believe that "opposition to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 (...) could amplify outbreaks epidemics as was the case with measles in 2019 ".

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified "vaccine hesitation" as one of the ten threats to global health.

According to a survey by the charitable foundation Wellcome Trust, in 2018, 7% of respondents in 140 countries did not think the vaccines were safe, while 11% did not have an opinion.

© 2020 AFP