This is how false vaccine rumors spread

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– And when I delved deeper into the matter, I found good explanations for why the rumors existed, you say.

Sibylle Herzig van Wees conducts focus group interviews and field studies in several different countries to understand vaccine resistance in its specific context. It is not certain that resistance has the same interpretation everywhere. A group in Järna, which has a different way of looking at health and illness than others, is part of the project, as are Somali and Arabic-speaking groups in Stockholm and Malmö. In all the groups she studies, there is clear skepticism about the vaccine before.

Among other things, it looks at how to keep rumors about an HPV vaccine alive in Sweden’s Somali-speaking minority by analyzing where and how often TikTok videos containing conspiracy theories about side effects are shared.

– If a group is already skeptical, social media helps keep the reputation alive. Tiktok is such a powerful medium, what you see there influences your decisions, she says.

The theory that flourished in Arabic-speaking groups was that a vaccine against the coronavirus would affect a woman’s ability to conceive. The concern was great, but according to Sibylle Herzig van Wees, many were still interested in vaccination, although only after clarifying whether the vaccine was safe – with a doctor.

– We showed that there were women who tried to contact a doctor, but the doctor’s appointment at the health center was refused, she said.

Only when they felt there was no good body to turn to within the health care system and they didn’t get answers to their questions did they make the decision not to get vaccinated.

The process of getting the participants to stand up and talk was difficult, especially in Järna.

– It is telling, I think, and an interesting discovery in itself, you say.

She is glad she finally got to do the interviews.

– The group at Järna feels misunderstood. The more she is misunderstood, she says, the more she shuts down the group.

She explains that this mistrust, which she has seen in several groups, can be linked to past challenges with the authorities.

– We need to listen more to these groups, try to understand them and get more involved in their challenges, she says.

It is important to take people’s ideas seriously

Knowing how to reach someone who has espoused a patently false theory is no easy feat.

– But if people’s ideas are not taken seriously, rumors can spread out of control and have serious consequences, says Sybil Herzig van Wies.

With the help of mathematical models that Bjorn Lindström will develop, he will also investigate how to limit the spread of opinions and statements that threaten public health. For example, we already know that those who detect that others are getting likes when they post something on social media are more likely to imitate the behavior. One thing they should look at is how the likelihood of vaccine-skeptic material being posted on social media changes if likes aren’t forthcoming.

According to Predrag Petrovic, it is often helpful to convince vaccine skeptics by flooding the person with counterarguments.

Too much evidence in one direction seems to strengthen the counter-evidence in some individuals. I think this is incredibly interesting. Perhaps these people need more clear information than others and also to hear about the vaccine from people they trust, he says.