New research targets anti-vaccination comments on Facebook

Anti-vaccination content on Facebook extends beyond the thoroughly debunked myth that vaccines cause autism, a new study reports. Instead, a team of researchers found four flavors of anti-vaccine misinformation that may discourage parents from vaccinating their children. The findings, published today in the journal Vaccine, suggest that there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach to curbing the spread of vaccine hesitancy, according to the study’s senior author Brian Primack, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Instead, understanding why parents are reluctant to vaccinate their kids will be critical in fighting vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, which continues to spread through pockets of unvaccinated people across the... Continue reading…