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‘No no no. Avoid them all’: anti-vaccine conspiracies spread as UK cases of measles increase
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
At the same time, influencers who gained large followings during the pandemic – including those at the forefront of sowing doubt about the Covid vaccines – appear to have refocused some attention on MMR.
The latest NHS figures show the MMR vaccine uptake is the lowest since 2010-11, with only 84.5% of children having received both doses by age five – well below the WHO recommended rate of 95%.
Part of the problem, said Selvarajah, is that there is a “massive overhang” from the days of Andrew Wakefield, who in the late 1990s pushed the debunked theory that the MMR vaccine causes autism – leading uptake to plummet.
In Hackney, there are particular challenges due to the makeup of the borough, which includes traditionally under-vaccinated groups, such as Orthodox Jewish and Somali communities, as well as a section of the “white middle class” who favour “more organic, holistic living and don’t believe in vaccines”.
Instead, Selvarajah and colleagues are trialling initiatives including holding community talks and paying junior doctors to ring up the parents of unvaccinated children to more gently encourage them to come in.
“Part of the strategy is to be really approachable and easy to access.” Facebook generally permits such discussions, only removing misinformation it thinks is “likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm”.
The original article contains 1,167 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 81%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!