The Covid-19 pandemic was accompanied by an outbreak of an “infodemic,” and the health crisis represented an unparalleled platform for disinformation networks, as it provided vaccine skeptics with an opportunity to emerge and gain popularity, which some figures still live on today, despite the passage of five years.
From talk of “dangerous” side effects to claims that vaccines have never been tested, anti-vaxxers didn’t wait until 2020 to spread false information about vaccines. But the emergence of Covid-19 was an accelerating factor that “helped transform a movement that was limited to certain groups into a more influential force,” according to a study whose results were published in The Lancet in 2023.
The pandemic has given vaccine skeptics an opportunity to change their strategy. Previously, their positions targeted parents, given that children receive the largest number of injections, but they have now adopted a more complex discourse in which they target a much broader audience.
“During this period, we noticed groups that were usually well-closed moving toward opposition to vaccination,” explains sociology lecturer and specialist in medical beliefs, Romy Sofer.
Along with the usual conspiracy theories, alternative medicine advocates, political figures and even medical professionals have spread a wide range of false or unsubstantiated statements about vaccines or the virus itself.
Discussions about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, promoted by Didier Raoult – whose foundational study was recently invalidated – have alarmed part of the population.
Like him, other figures with scientific or medical merit emerged by opposing the scientific consensus.
Jeremy Ward, a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research and co-author of a large-scale report on vaccination in France from 2020, points out that “behind these media-informed and sometimes extremist doctors, there are broader issues of trust in health authorities.”
Defending freedoms
Health psychology researcher Joslan Rudd confirms that in addition to health concerns, “this movement is mainly centered around defending individual freedoms.” This is evident in the many demonstrations around the world against the restrictions taken to combat the epidemic and compulsory vaccination.
The pandemic has allowed the anti-vaccine movement to continue its rapprochement with the conservative right, sometimes taking its activists to the highest levels of political power, of which Robert Kennedy Jr. remains the best example.
This former environmental lawyer and nephew of US President John Kennedy, who was assassinated, was nominated by Donald Trump to take over the US Department of Health.
This constitutes a victory and recognition for the opponents of vaccination, with whom Robert Kennedy Jr. was walking alongside during the demonstrations. He also stressed – for example – that Covid-19 is a “racially targeted” virus.
According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-governmental organization that fights online misinformation, Kennedy and his anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense, from which he temporarily withdrew, were among the 12 largest publishers. For fake news during the pandemic.
The center’s head of research, Calum Hood, explains that Robert Kennedy Jr. was running “one of the fastest-growing anti-vaccine accounts during the pandemic. We’re talking about an audience of hundreds of thousands or millions of people. This is a very strong position to build a follower base to support his political ambitions.”
Antisystem and social networks
During the pandemic, social media has already been “the spearhead of attempts to spread misinformation about vaccines,” notes Noel T. Brewer, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health and one of the authors of the study published in The Lancet.
But the public health consequences are difficult to analyze. “Some researchers believe that repeated exposure to misinformation may lead people to refrain from receiving vaccination, while others believe that the effects of this exposure are relatively limited because it only allows them to justify their pre-vaccination hesitation,” Joslan Rudd explains.
Today, the movement has lost some momentum as interest in Covid-19 wanes, but those who gained notoriety by spreading misinformation during the pandemic have learned how to reinvent themselves.
“These are the same accounts that are now sharing content that supports Russia or questions climate change,” explains Laurent Cordonnier, a sociologist and director of research at the Descartes Foundation.
Cordonnier adds, “There is a strategic aspect, but there is also real cohesion in dealing with these different issues that do not seem to have any connection between them. The driving force here is the counter-system.”