Vaccine conspiracies and misinformation on the rise in UK
Training of vaccinators at the Princess Anne Training Center in Derby, UK November 28, 2020. REUTERS - LEE SMITH
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3 min
Since the United Kingdom's announcement on Wednesday that it was authorizing the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, myths and false information about vaccination have intensified on social networks.
Aware of the dangerousness of the phenomenon, the British authorities and the traditional media quickly reacted to try to prevent British citizens from refusing to be vaccinated.
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With our correspondent in London,
Muriel Delcroix
Rumors and conspiracy theories that have been circulating for months on vaccines resurfaced on Wednesday, especially on Facebook and Twitter.
Recurring target of conspiracy theorists, billionaire Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who is in favor of vaccines, and who has been accused again of wanting to dominate the world by implanting chips through vaccination campaigns.
But this time the media and in particular the BBC very quickly brought in specialists in social networks, scientists and caregivers to dismantle one by one the baseless claims.
Meanwhile, leader Boris Johnson and his Minister of Health Matt Hancock, who are preparing to launch the largest vaccination campaign in the country, have stepped up their pedagogy emphasizing the importance and reliability of vaccines.
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Read also: Covid-19: the United Kingdom authorizes the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, a world first
The authorities and scientists are indeed worried about the impact of disinformation via the internet which increases the mistrust of many Britons.
The World Health Organization (WTO) says it is currently fighting both against the pandemic but also what it calls the "infodemic", this wave of misleading information that threatens to dissuade people from to get vaccinated.
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