Misinformation about vaccines fuelling fear among Jamaicans

 

Consultant paediatrician Dr. Tracey Evans Gilbert says misinformation on social media about the benefits of vaccines is fuelling fear among some Jamaicans. 

 

The controversy on vaccine use has been sparked in the United States where a key US vaccine advisory committee voted last week to stop recommending all adults get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

 

US President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccine use and the taking of popular pain medication Tylenol by pregnant women, elevating claims not backed by scientific evidence to the forefront of US health policy.

 

Dozens of medical research and autism advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have decried the president's announcement delivered at an extraordinary news conference at the White House. 

 

Dr. Evans Gilbert, Consultant in Paediatrics, Tropical Medicine and Public Health at the Minister of Health and Wellness, is concerned that people are starting to believe the unsupported claims about vaccine use.

 

"Basically, we're fighting a new demon. It's not so much the disease, but misinformation. The internet is a powerful place... so that is just making everybody think the same way, and if you give information over and over again that's incorrect, people are going to stop believing that it's true. So that is what is happening now. Because of that, people are scared."

 

Dr. Evans Gilbert, who was a guest Tuesday on TVJ Smile Jamaica, said the eradication of polio, measles and rubella in Jamaica through its robust national immunisation programme are real examples of the benefits of vaccines. 

 

She noted that some Jamaican parents have shared that they are concerned about the safety of vaccines because of information on the internet. While the consultant pediatrician is encouraging parents to continue to ask questions about the safety of vaccines, she suggested they seek out credible sources of information for the answers. 

 

"The thing about the internet, it gathers information from all sources and you are getting some incorrect, some correct. So first thing is when you're looking up things about vaccines, find a credible source. TikTok and, you know, AI generated things, we don't know what the source is. Check your sources for credible information," she stressed.

 

When a vaccine is introduced into the body it teaches the immune system to recognise, destroy and remember a pathogen providing active required immunity and protecting against future infections by that disease.