Anatomy of an Anti-Vaxxer

What does it take for a vaccine to be effective?

Population uptake plays a huge role. After all, even the most efficacious vaccine in the world is useless if people won’t stick their arms out in the first place.

Unfortunately, anti-vax sentiments are threatening just that.

The ongoing Covid mass vaccination programme has fuelled anti-vax sentiments. Credit: Jason Redmond / AFP

This isn’t a new phenomenon. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published the now infamous paper that incorrectly linked the MMR vaccine with autism. The ramifications are still experienced today, over 2 decades later. MMR uptake rates have been dwindling for years. 2019 saw a mumps outbreak in the UK, driven by non-vaccinated young adults born during Wakefield-hysteria period of the late 90s/early 00s.

Moving forward to 2021, the mass Covid vaccination programme has triggered a new wave of outcry.

Social media’s fuelling this: the biggest anti-vaxxer social media accounts have a global following of 59.2 million — enough to compromise a vaccine’s ability to contain disease.

So who are these anti-vaxxers? And how do we tackle this movement? Read on to find out!

Who Are They?

To tackle the anti-vaxxers, we first need to know who they are. Researchers have identified 4 main types of anti-vaxxer —

Campaigners create new anti-vax theories and present them in an authoritative way — such as the panel discussions with ‘experts’ seen here— to give credibility to their movement. Spot Andrew Wakefield in the top left corner. Credit: CCDH

1. Campaigners form the foundations of the movement. They produce and spread new anti-vax theories, giving the movement credibility. One prominent example is Robert F. Kennedy Jr — yes, member of that Kennedy political dynasty.
2. Entrepreneurs economically capitalise off the anti-vax message, scaring the vulnerable into buying their products. Regrettably, they reach the largest audience of any part of the movement. One of the largest is David Wolfe, with 12.3 million Facebook followers. For a cool $137, he sells colloidal silver as an alternative Covid treatment, claiming it cures pretty much any disease. As you can probably imagine, it’s not only ineffective, but dangerous, interfering with drug absorption and causing permanent skin discolouration.

Conspiracy theorists such as David Icke are just one subgroup of the anti-vax community. Credit: CCDH

3. Conspiracists produce conspiracy content for social media. One such example is David Icke, who (before being banned) regularly posted anti-vax sentiments and Covid conspiracy theories — such as the one seen here.

4. Communities, typically within Facebook groups or pages, share and discuss anti-vax ideas. With no opportunity for scrutiny or challenge, members are easily radicalised.

This differentiation between sub-groups is important, since they all pose distinct challenges. When targetting anti-vaxxers, public health officials tend not to focus on the most militant. Instead the focus is on the undecided — those with legitimate questions, who want to do the right thing.

So how do we go about changing their beliefs?

Science and Facts aren’t key…

To the vaccine hesitant, science and facts aren’t enough to sway their beliefs. It might just do the opposite. A 2014 study on US parents resistant to vaccinating their children found that pro-vaccination facts not only made no impact on their beliefs, but strengthened the anti-vax views in those most opposed.

… But Trust is

Using trusted, apolitical messengers within communities — such as Gandalf actor Sir Ian McKellen pictured here — to spread the positive vaccination message can address lack of trust. Credit: Jeff Moore/Reuters

Rather, what’s been found to work is address the lack of trust these anti-vaxxers have. Employing trusted messengers within the communities to spread the benefit of vaccines is one way of achieving this, and has already been utilised by governments. This technique has worked before — first developed and successfully used to promote practices preventing HIV/AIDs spread in at-risk gay men.

Thinking Outside The Box: Gaming to Eliminate Anti-Vax Beliefs

‘Go Viral!’, an online game developed by Cambridge University psychologists, aims to help players understand the processes behind fake news to promote resistance to these practices. Credit: Go Viral!

How would you go about spreading fake news? ‘Go Viral!’, a game developed by Cambridge University psychologists, sees players take on the role of a fake-news spreader. Through learning the tips of the trade, players become better at identifying and disregarding fake news in the future. Latest studies based on a similar game suggest that just one play reduces susceptibility to false information for at least 3 months. You can play Go Viral here!

Let’s end this article with some further optimism. Unlike the consequences of other vaccine-preventable diseases, the outcomes of Covid have been widely publicised — every day we hear about deaths, exhausted hospitals, and the extreme pressure on everyday lives. Even the anti-vaxxers want the country to get back on track. This, alongside the innovative work on countering the anti-vax movement, might just be enough for them to bite the bullet.

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About the author

Jessy Zhang is a fourth year medical student at University of Cambridge, with interests in healthcare inequality, policy, and mental health. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading and travelling!

References

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