Misinformation and Disinformation of Cyber Content about Covid-19 and Its Vaccine as an Underlying Factor to Its Hesitancy among Adults

Abstract

World Health Organisation (WHO) in February, 2020. The media across the globe have given extensive coverage to the new virus helping people to have an understanding of the emerging ravaging disease. As useful and transformative the internet is, in providing credible information on several discourses of concerns including health issues; it has also increased the rate of misinformation and disinformation about the corona virus and its vaccine. The spread of mis- and disinformation during the disease outbreak has become a global public health challenge, as it created a greater threat towards its prevention and control. Invariably, it has also affected the uptake of the vaccine by majority of adults who are susceptible to the virus. Both misinformation and disinformation have been proven to have created social discredit around COVID 19 and thereby resulting to low compliance to preventive measures; most especially vaccine hesitancy and adoption by the populace. The amount of online misinformation surrounding the vaccine has been tagged the “second pandemic” which invariably sabotages the efforts to get people to vaccinated. The World Health Organization defines this practice as “infodemic”. There is an urgent need for a myth buster approach to reduce vaccine hesitancy caused as a result of mis-and disinformation in order to forestall further resurgence of the deadly corona virus disease.