Vaccines

This volume explores politically motivated misinformation targeting gender-affirming care, transgender people, and its impact on online discourse, legislation, and health care access. We also examine Florida Surgeon General Ladapo’s recent misleading claims about mRNA vaccines and new technology that can predict if social media users will share disinformation.

This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. It also examines emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines.

In this issue, we take a closer look at the reliability of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as a source of health information. We explore public opinion on chatbot accuracy based on KFF surveys and highlight recent examples of AI-generated election misinformation in the news. In addition, we share our firsthand experience querying AI chatbots on health topics and discuss research on gaps in safeguards.

In this Monitor, we explore how ongoing misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines may affect the acceptance of new vaccine recommendations. First, we examine the false and misleading claims underlying the Kansas Attorney General’s lawsuit against Pfizer. We also discuss the CDC’s most recent vaccine.

This fact sheet examines Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (also known as Gavi), an independent, public-private partnership and multilateral funding mechanism that aims to increase access to immunization in lower income countries, and explores the role the U.S. government plays in supporting the partnership.

In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the difficulties of navigating the misinformation minefield, including the ways in which the news media can amplify or confront misinformation.

This edition focuses on intentionally false or misleading information online and its potential impact on public trust in health care. We share a recent report that exposed a covert U.S. military social media disinformation campaign in the Philippines that may have undermined public confidence in vaccines. We also examine how false claims about sunscreen and non-FDA-approved “miracle cures” may be discouraging people from taking important preventative measures and seeking legitimate medical treatment. Finally, we explore the rise of counterfeit diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and the potential impact on trust in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

This issue of the Monitor focuses on recent Supreme Court decisions impacting health misinformation. We examine cases balancing free speech and platform regulation, the Court’s ruling on mifepristone access and public perceptions of social media moderation. We also explore COVID-19 narratives after Dr. Fauci’s congressional testimony and AI developments in predicting misinformation trends during pandemics.

This first edition of the Health Misinformation Monitor explores misinformation about raw milk amid bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms, false vaccine narratives that continue to spread, and legal challenges against abortion pill reversal claims. Additionally, a growing number of states have required public schools to show fetal development videos that some have called biased and inaccurate. This Monitor report also provides a snapshot of new KFF misinformation polling on TikTok and discusses the early challenges faced by The World Health Organization’s new AI tool SARAH in providing accurate answers to health questions.

KFF’s Health Misinformation Tracking Poll shows that most adults who use the social media app TikTok report seeing health-related information or advice on the app. While fewer than half of users say they trust health information they see on the app, younger, Black and Hispanic users report higher levels of trust.