‘Spreading like wildfire’: Fauci, surgeon general take aim at COVID misinformation online
frustrated by persistent conspiracy theories about the pandemic, public health officials are more forcefully criticizing media and tech platforms they argue are endangering the public.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the federal government’s top public health adviser, said Sunday that “misinformation is still spreading like wildfire in our country aided and abetted by technology platforms.”
The latest:CDC can enforce rules for return of cruises, appeals panel rules; new infections rising in all 50 states: Live COVID updates
COVID-19 and travel: The delta variant is spreading. Should travelers be concerned?
Fauci: Lack of ‘pushback’ allowed polio, smallpox eradication
In a CNN interview Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said past vaccination campaigns wouldn’t have been nearly as effective had they also been hampered by misinformation.
“If we had had the pushback for vaccines the way we’re seeing on certain media, I don’t think it would’ve been possible at all to not only eradicate smallpox, we probably would still have smallpox,” Fauci said, further speculating that “we probably would still have polio in this country if we had the kind of false information that’s being spread now.”
Fact check:Viral meme makes false claim about delta variant
The comments from the nation’s top health advisers come after two weeks of rising case numbers nationally. A more contagious strain of the virus, known as the delta variant, has taken hold across the country. Missouri and Arkansas, which have low vaccination rates, are among the hardest hit.
Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — and not just for COVID-19
Facebook has not disclosed the number of people who may have seen pandemic- or vaccine-related misinformation on its platform.
“We know that 99.5% of people who are in the hospital are people who are unvaccinated and people who are dying of COVID are unvaccinated. As Dr. Walensky said earlier today, this is really becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press briefing Friday.
When asked whether Biden thought Facebook was doing enough to combat the spread of misinformation, Psaki’s answer was simple: “Clearly not, because we’re talking about additional steps that should be taken.”
Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.