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Hopkins Center Makes Visible The Harms And Costs Of Bad Information
Related To COVID-19
The
Hopkins Center for Health Security is studying the burden of negative
outcomes associated with misinformation and disinformation and calling
for a strategy to combat both of these theoretically preventable
effects on human beliefs and behaviors.
Consequences
According to a recent Center report, “contradictory messaging
(misinformation) and active subversion (disinformation) have reduced
trust in public health responders, increased belief in false medical
cures, and politicized public health measures.” The combined effects
can “lead to more infections, deaths, disruptions, and disorganization
of the effort.”
There
are no easy solutions according to the Center, but it has called for a
national strategy to address the issues. It is also trying to make
sure the costs do not remain invisible to public health and the
political leadership.
Non-Vaccination
In
studying one facet of the problem, namely the “misinformation or
disinformation-informed decision” to not get a COVID-19 vaccine, the
Center estimates that 2-12 million persons are unvaccinated because of
exposure to these types of information. The total of voluntary
COVID-19 nonvaccination has caused at least $1 billion of harm each
day in the United States since vaccines became widely available,
according to the Center.
Assuming
that 5-30% of this harm comes from misinformation and disinformation,
they have caused between $50 and $300 million worth of
total
harm every day since May 2021. Thus, assuming beliefs are not fully
solidified, millions of dollars could be saved every month while the
pandemic continues if effective countermeasures could be applied.
National
Strategy
As part
of a national strategy, the Center has called for approximately a
dozen countermeasures. Some of these are:
--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.
--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.
The
Center’s reports can be accessed at:
https://bit.ly/3r1gxHS
https://bit.ly/3rTgj4C ■
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