Category: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
The Misinformation Crisis: Parents, Physicians, and the Changing Landscape of Vaccine Trust
AMWA Being a parent in medicine today can feel profoundly vulnerable. Recommendations evolve rapidly, headlines shift, and studies can trend on social media before most clinicians have fully reviewed the methodology. The effects are trickling down into exam rooms across the country, where parents are trying to do what they have always tried to do: […]
Apr 15, 2026
America’s Latest Unfounded Health Panic: ‘Vaccinated’ Blood Donations
Gizmodo New research suggests people are increasingly requesting blood donations from people not vaccinated against covid-19, despite no evidence supporting the practice. In a sign of our ever idiotic times, recent research suggests that some people are increasingly refusing to receive blood from vaccinated donors. Doctors at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee examined […]
Apr 1, 2026
In Talking to Parents About Vaccines, Pediatricians Navigate a Sea of Misinformation
NYT Practitioners nationwide are striving to do what’s best for children’s health, while staying supportive in the face of mistrust and confusion. As she examined 11-day-old Asher, her eighth patient of the day, Alissa Parker talked to his parents about his sleep habits, the nub of his umbilical cord that had yet to fall off […]
Mar 11, 2026
Real or Fake? Tips and Tools for Identifying AI-Generated Images
Nice News Artificial intelligence imagery is getting harder and harder to spot. In the best case scenario, we end up simply laughing at a funny moment that never actually happened. In the worst case, we buy into misinformation that warps our perception of what’s actually going on in the world. So, as technology continues moving […]
Mar 4, 2026
The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation
Nature One of Simon Clark’s most popular TikTok videos begins with him playing the part of a clueless climate contrarian. Adopting the overconfident tone that is common among social-media influencers, he proclaims: “Renewables are a scam!” Cut to the real Clark, who has a PhD in stratospheric dynamics and uses the handle @simonoxfphys, as he […]
Feb 18, 2026
Vaccine myths that won’t die and how to counter them—part 2
CIDRAP We explored four key myths and why they don’t stand up to scrutiny: Today we’ll delve into five more that you also have likely encountered. The nine myths reflect those most frequently seen in my clinical practice and in discussions. Each has been studied extensively and refuted. Yet each persists, because misinformation travels faster […]
Feb 11, 2026
Teaching People to Counter Misinformation, Not Just Spot It
Carnegie Mellon Univ Can we train people to speak up when they see misinformation on social media? Most media literacy research efforts focus on training people to identify true from false information. However, learning to recognize accurate information doesn’t automatically help stop inaccurate information from spreading online. Many of us have seen false or misleading […]
Jan 28, 2026
Vaccine myths that won’t die and how to counter them—part 1
CIDRAP In consulting rooms across America, physicians face a challenge that no medical school prepared them for. A parent arrives with a list of concerns gathered from social media, podcasts, and well-meaning friends. The questions sound scientific. The language borrows from immunology. The citations reference real studies. And yet the conclusions are wrong. These parents […]
Jan 21, 2026
Vaccination in the Age of Memes: An Exploration of Digital Health
PubMed This study explores how internet memes serve as digital communication tools in public health discourse, influencing public perceptions by spreading both accurate and misleading health information. Utilizing a dual qualitative approach, Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) and Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), this study examined 99 vaccine-related memes shared online during the 2019 and 2025 measles […]
Jan 14, 2026
Rise of anti-science rhetoric has fundamentally changed the relationship between doctors and patients
STAT I have spent my career caring for people facing some of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases — Ebola, mpox, Covid-19. I have worked in outbreak zones, in understaffed hospitals, in field units built out of necessity. I’ve seen firsthand how vaccines transform the trajectory of a disease, a community, and a country. But […]
Dec 10, 2025