Vaccine vs. War

This specific meme of propaganda is used to persuade others to form opinions out of fear, which is very harmful and dangerous. The image above gives two choices, admit the vaccine doesn’t work or go to war with Russia, which makes its audience subconsciously question the vaccine. Because its so on time with current events and conspiracies revolving around the vaccine, and news about Ukraine and Russia, people who see it can relate to it and are more likely to engage and form opinions. This propaganda is also harmful because it can scare people into believing there is something wrong with the vaccine, which risks their health and the health of others. People no are much more likely than ever before to believe something they see on the internet without researching it. The image above was originally posted to Instagram, likely on an account that produces other content and propaganda similar to this about various topics. The spreading of misinformation is detrimental to us and anyone who simply sees it, because it opens the information up for conversation even if what’s posted is completely false. The primary audience for this meme is anti-vaxxers who believe the vaccine is only causing more harm. Anyone who shared this post to their story or sent it to a friend is also boosting it, letting Instagram know it’s getting a lot of traction on their platform. From here the app is designed to push and promote content like this because it performs well, even though it may not be correct. Apps like Instagram and Tik Tok have guidelines to prevent this, yet so much of it slips through the cracks and gets attention because these apps rely on views and interaction. I believe this post got a lot of traction from both people who support the vaccine, as well as the anti-vaxxers. Because it heavily favors anti-vaxxers and is against the vaccine, those who support it probably posted it and shared facts on why its not true and how it does make a difference. At the same time, those against the vaccine would likely post about their experiences with it and not use factual information in their posts. This meme could additionally easily be used on news channels to open conversations and get people talking which is harmful because they leave everything open to interpretation for their viewers instead of sharing it and including statistics and other sources to deny or accept the message provided. I agree that this meme is harmful to its audience because there is so much misinformation being spread, and because there are plenty of other sources and evidence to prove that the vaccine is effective. Once people see this image, they most likely wouldn’t look up ‘is the vaccine effective’, but instead ‘why doesn’t the vaccine work’ which would provide other peoples stories and opinions against the vaccine, solely based on the tone and language of the original search. I think its always extremely important to fact check anything you see on social media or online since there is so much misinformation going around in todays climate.

I went about using outside sources in a different way, and wanted to prove that what you search for initially has a huge impact on what sources you are then provided with. My initial search was very central, ‘how effective is the covid vaccine?’. This search doesn’t include my opinion on the topic or have any tells as to what I personally believe, and is a good neutral way of searching for information that isn’t biased. Based on my first search, I was given sources like the CDC site and Mayo Clinic. The CDC first shows a graph for how effective the booster shot is for the delta and omicron variant, 60% and 80% effective to those who have briefly been vaccinated. Those who are unvaccinated that get COVID are 41 times more likely to die from it; in January of 2022 about 3,300 people who were not vaccinated tested positive for COVID, while only 1,000 people who had both shots and the booster tested positive (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status). On my next search I decided to give off the impression that I was against the vaccine by searching ‘why doesn’t the COVID vaccine work’ and I was actually surprised by the results. I still saw websites from different clinical studies and medical centers, all using the term myth or ‘the truth’ about the vaccine. These headlines are not followed by random peoples opinions and stories on the vaccine, but more evidence to prove that it is effective. The CDC actually has an entire section dedicated to myths or facts of the vaccine, including topics like ‘are there dangerous ingredients’ and ‘isn’t natural immunity better’, all followed by facts on why those myths are false. The last search I did was ‘why should people get the vaccine’, which was followed by articles on the benefits of the vaccine. This proves how important it is to make sure you are searching for the right thing and staying neutral when finding out more, and shows how this meme is negative propaganda because of how its purpose is to spread misinformation.