Politicians, health experts condemn vaccine misinformation as cases surge; first COVID-19 case at Olympic Village: Live updates
Edward Segarra Grace Hauck
USA TODAY
A surge of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is being fueled by unvaccinated Americans as officials increasingly say vaccine misinformation is leading too many people to forgo the potentially life-saving shots.
President Joe Biden told reporters Friday that social media platforms like Facebook, where vaccine misinformation has spread, are “killing people.” Biden’s comment follows the release of an advisory by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Thursday, in which Murthy called health misinformation “a serious threat to public health.”
A surge of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is being fueled by unvaccinated Americans as officials increasingly say vaccine misinformation is leading too many people to forgo the potentially life-saving shots.
President Joe Biden told reporters Friday that social media platforms like Facebook, where vaccine misinformation has spread, are “killing people.” Biden’s comment follows the release of an advisory by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Thursday, in which Murthy called health misinformation “a serious threat to public health.”
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows U.S. vaccinations have steadily fallen since their high in late May. After millions rushed to get their shots in early 2021, the supply of vaccines now vastly outpaces demand.
Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner, said that misinformation “has led people to forgo masks [and] doubt vaccines,” while Andy Slavitt, a former adviser to the Biden administration on COVID-19, said on Twitter that misinformation has wrongly convinced "just enough US communities that a vaccine was worse than COVID.”
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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, called out the destructiveness of vaccine misinformation being spread by figures on the political right.
“We have these — these talking heads who have gotten the vaccine and are telling other people not to get the vaccine,” Cox said, according to the Washington Post. “That kind of stuff is just, it’s ridiculous; it’s dangerous, it’s damaging and it’s killing people. I mean, it’s literally killing their supporters, and that makes no sense to me.” |
