On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services provided a toolkit for combatting vaccine disinformation. But a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, released one day earlier, shows just how far ahead the forces of ill-informed misinformation and deliberate disinformation are in this conflict. At this point, it’s no surprise that false claims about the safety of the vaccine are widespread. It’s also not all that shocking that a fair percentage of the population believes that medicine used primarily to kill parasitic worms is also effective against COVID-19.
But the most shocking insight may be the one that affects the most people. Why, after the deaths of over 770,000 Americans, are so many still prepared to discount the threat caused by the novel coronavirus? Why are Republicans able to make political hay in the midst of a pandemic by actively campaigning against, and even ridiculing, common-sense safety precautions? Because a majority of Americans, 60%, say they “they’ve heard that the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths by counting deaths due to other factors.” Of that number, 38% say they believe it’s true and another 22% are unsure.
America has suffered a mass casualty event that has killed over 250 times as many people as were lost on 9/11. But rather than erecting statues to the fallen or investing trillions into “never again,” over a third of the nation is mired in a place where they don’t believe it even happened, and another quarter just isn’t quite sure. That’s the power of disinformation. Not surprisingly, it also defines the portion of the population that listens to Fox News.
Even more insidious, 18% of Americans say they believe the government is “hiding deaths due to the COVID-19 vaccine,” and another 17% are at least willing to entertain that idea. Since there’s certain to be an absolute overlap of the Venn diagram between these two questions, that makes for 125 million Americans who believe that pandemic deaths are exaggerated, of whom 56 million believe that vaccine deaths are being undercounted.
Not only is there absolutely no truth to either of these claims, but mathematical analysis has also demonstrated that the genuine toll of the pandemic is much greater than the official numbers. All the way back in May, before the delta wave swept the nation, best estimates placed the death toll above 900,000. The latest update puts that number well above one million.
Considering how extensively COVID-19 has reached into the homes and families of everyone in the country, how many well-known figures have fallen, and how many conservative radio hosts have been part of the death toll, continuing to believe that COVID-19 deaths are being overcounted might seem ludicrous but … there you go.
Another widespread piece of disinformation is the claim that the vaccines are not safe for those who are pregnant. That false claim is unfortunately behind thousands of miscarriages, and more than a few deaths, when pregnant people chose not to get vaccinated after hearing the false claims about vaccine dangers. Even in families that have otherwise been vaccinated, there have been tremendous tragedies when the one pregnant member decides to delay vaccination until after delivery.
The most common bits of pandemic disinformation that surfaces in the recent KFF survey.
The least surprising thing about the KFF data is how well it aligns with where people get their news.
In short, people who spend their days immersed in disinformation believe the disinformation, and all the tool kits in the world may not be enough to repair them. All of this brings us back to the question of why it is okay for these supposed news outlets to profit by selling people disinformation.
Yes, media outlets enjoy particularly strong protection under the First Amendment, but disease dangers, vaccine efficacy, and public health data are not—or at least, should not be—political speech. If Fox was telling its viewers to test that scam “gravity” by leaping from buildings, or Newsmax was encouraging children to run into burning buildings, it seems highly likely someone would determine that this was not allowed.
So why is spreading disinformation about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines in the range of acceptable speech?
The United States continues to top the world with over 70,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day—a number that’s been consistent for weeks. The nation is also averaging over 1,000 deaths a day six months after the delta variant became dominant. Neither of these is likely to fall as long as the nation continues to embrace falsehoods and ignore effective steps against COVID-19.
But the most shocking insight may be the one that affects the most people. Why, after the deaths of over 770,000 Americans, are so many still prepared to discount the threat caused by the novel coronavirus? Why are Republicans able to make political hay in the midst of a pandemic by actively campaigning against, and even ridiculing, common-sense safety precautions? Because a majority of Americans, 60%, say they “they’ve heard that the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths by counting deaths due to other factors.” Of that number, 38% say they believe it’s true and another 22% are unsure.
America has suffered a mass casualty event that has killed over 250 times as many people as were lost on 9/11. But rather than erecting statues to the fallen or investing trillions into “never again,” over a third of the nation is mired in a place where they don’t believe it even happened, and another quarter just isn’t quite sure. That’s the power of disinformation. Not surprisingly, it also defines the portion of the population that listens to Fox News.
Even more insidious, 18% of Americans say they believe the government is “hiding deaths due to the COVID-19 vaccine,” and another 17% are at least willing to entertain that idea. Since there’s certain to be an absolute overlap of the Venn diagram between these two questions, that makes for 125 million Americans who believe that pandemic deaths are exaggerated, of whom 56 million believe that vaccine deaths are being undercounted.
Not only is there absolutely no truth to either of these claims, but mathematical analysis has also demonstrated that the genuine toll of the pandemic is much greater than the official numbers. All the way back in May, before the delta wave swept the nation, best estimates placed the death toll above 900,000. The latest update puts that number well above one million.
Considering how extensively COVID-19 has reached into the homes and families of everyone in the country, how many well-known figures have fallen, and how many conservative radio hosts have been part of the death toll, continuing to believe that COVID-19 deaths are being overcounted might seem ludicrous but … there you go.
Another widespread piece of disinformation is the claim that the vaccines are not safe for those who are pregnant. That false claim is unfortunately behind thousands of miscarriages, and more than a few deaths, when pregnant people chose not to get vaccinated after hearing the false claims about vaccine dangers. Even in families that have otherwise been vaccinated, there have been tremendous tragedies when the one pregnant member decides to delay vaccination until after delivery.
The most common bits of pandemic disinformation that surfaces in the recent KFF survey.
The least surprising thing about the KFF data is how well it aligns with where people get their news.
In short, people who spend their days immersed in disinformation believe the disinformation, and all the tool kits in the world may not be enough to repair them. All of this brings us back to the question of why it is okay for these supposed news outlets to profit by selling people disinformation.
Yes, media outlets enjoy particularly strong protection under the First Amendment, but disease dangers, vaccine efficacy, and public health data are not—or at least, should not be—political speech. If Fox was telling its viewers to test that scam “gravity” by leaping from buildings, or Newsmax was encouraging children to run into burning buildings, it seems highly likely someone would determine that this was not allowed.
So why is spreading disinformation about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines in the range of acceptable speech?
The United States continues to top the world with over 70,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day—a number that’s been consistent for weeks. The nation is also averaging over 1,000 deaths a day six months after the delta variant became dominant. Neither of these is likely to fall as long as the nation continues to embrace falsehoods and ignore effective steps against COVID-19.