Facebook fake news 'war room' should target anti-vaxxers

Myth-busting operatives in Facebook’s misinformation “war room” should be monitoring harmful public health messages as well as fake news, a leading vaccine expert has said.

Large measles outbreaks in Europe and the United States have put the issue of vaccine hesitancy at the top of the agenda, with growing concern over the role that “anti-vaxxers” play on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has said that it is “exploring additional measures to best combat the problem”.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Dr Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, an organisation that provides vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, said that distrust of vaccines was a growing problem, with social media amplifying and spreading anti-vaccine messages “at the speed of light”.

He highlighted Facebook’s much vaunted “war room”, a new facility at the company's California headquarters where up to 40 employees scrutinise the world’s elections, keeping an eye on misinformation campaigns and, where possible, stopping them.

Dr Berkley acknowledged that misinformation and fake news around elections was a problem but he added: “In the case of anti-vaccine views they can lead to death. This is a really important ethical question that needs to be discussed. I would like to see the same level of attention given to public health issues as is given to the problem of fake news.”

He said that vaccine hesitancy was a growing problem in developing countries with people in Nigeria, India and Indonesia all falling prey to anti-vaccine messages.

“These anti-vaccine messages spread very quickly on social media and we have seen vaccine coverage rates in some places go from 80 to 90 per cent to around five per cent in a short space of time,” he said.

Dr Berkley added that it was not the role of Gavi to tell social media companies what to do. But he said: “You cross a line when you start telling people to avoid public health interventions that are proven to be safe.”

The number of measles cases in Europe are at a 10-year high and vaccine refuseniks are thought to be partly to blame for five measles outbreaks in the US so far this year. There have been 101 cases of the disease in the US since the beginning of the year, compared to 372 for the whole of 2018.

Dr Berkley said that measles was one of the most infectious diseases and parents who refused to vaccinate their children were putting those with compromised immune systems at risk.

He added: “I’m a great believer in herd immunity. If you don’t want your child to be vaccinated shouldn’t you at least have to notify every other parent that your child comes into contact with? With some kids vaccination doesn’t take - in around six to seven per cent of cases the vaccine doesn’t always work first time and that’s why we give a booster.

“If you’re one of those children you’re at risk. You could kill a child if you don’t vaccinate your own,” he said.

Earlier this year, the World Health Organization identified vaccine hesitancy as one of 10 major threats to global health, alongside “high-threat” pathogens such as Ebola, air pollution and obesity.

WHO said the reasons why people choose not to vaccinate are complex with complacency, inconvenience and a lack of confidence all behind decisions.

Dr Berkley welcomed WHO's decision to highlight the problem but he added: "Countries have their own laws. WHO can make recommendations but they cannot physically do anything to stop these problems.”

Dr Kathy Neuzil, from University of Maryland School of Medicine, agreed that vaccine hesitancy was a growing phenomenon in lower income countries.

“There have been pockets of vaccine hesitancy and the origins of those fears vary, but not at the stage as in the US or Europe. It is a privilege to say there’s no measles in the US so I’m not going to vaccinate my child.

"When people perceive a risk of disease, such as with Ebola, there is high demand for vaccines.  Overall, there is undisputed evidence of vaccine efficacy, but acceptance of certain vaccines varies,” she said.

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security 

Should Facebook remove posts and groups promoting harmful public health messages?

We want to hear from you in the comments section below. To join the conversation simply log in to your Telegraph account or register for free here.