Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines represent a major advance in cancer prevention. Unfortunately, the safety and efficacy of vaccines in general, as well as HPV vaccines in particular, have become the target of many misinformation attacks and social media campaigns. In the first place, the popular social media platform Instagram is being abused in this regard. Twitter is a close second. Health disinformation on social media is very diverse, very often with strong emotional overtones. Anti-vaccine groups spread misinformation without presenting evidence, use fictitious case studies to emotionally affect society and spread distrust of information from health professionals and official sources, often referring to the economic benefits of drugs or vaccines for manufacturers. This misinformation is a major threat to public health and to medicine in general. What are the recommendations of the authors of the survey, Vanda Boštíková and Aleš Macel, to address this issue? Read our new Coffee Beans.
Authors: Prof. RNDr. Vanda Boštíková, Ph.D., Fakulta sociálních věd, Univerzita Karlova, a Prof. RNDr. Aleš Macela, DrSc. Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví, Univerzita obrany
