In May 2014, in El Carmen de Bol铆var in northern Colombia, mainstream news and social media were awash with reports and viral videos of adolescent girls experiencing symptoms of a 鈥溾��, including fainting and numbness. Claims were made that this was linked to side effects from the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.
Although Colombian health authorities鈥� investigations found of a biological link between the vaccine and the symptoms reported, the effects of these claims, which had been spread via social media, lingered. By 2016, Colombia鈥檚 female , one of the world鈥檚 highest, had plummeted to only 2 per cent, according to World Health Organization estimates. It has taken until 2023 for rates to start to recover, although they remain significantly lower (at 11 per cent in 2022 and 52 per cent in 2023) than the high of 87 per cent in 2012.
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Vaccine misinformation casts a long shadow. More than 25 years after Andrew Wakefield鈥檚 infamous Lancet publication, myths surrounding MMR vaccines and autism are still causing parents around the world to refuse the vaccine for their kids, contributing to rising measles cases. A of HPV vaccine uptake in Japan has estimated that vaccine hesitancy between 2013 and 2019 could lead to in excess of 5000 additional cervical cancer deaths there.
The WHO has identified vaccine hesitancy as one of the , and the past few years have seen a general in vaccine confidence. We are living in a 鈥� and in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists are turning their attention to HPV vaccines once again, fuelling around the vaccine鈥檚 safety and effectiveness.
Of course, these claims are completely untrue: considerable shows the safety of the HPV vaccine. As well as preventing 9 out of 10 if given by 13, new HPV vaccines also help to prevent head and neck cancers, which are more common in men and boys.
Despite this, global HPV vaccine coverage is far from ideal, including in some higher-income countries, where vaccine supply and equity is much less of an issue than in lower-income countries. In the US, for example, only around are up to date with an HPV vaccine. For HPV vaccines, unlike some others, shows that uptake can actually be lower among those from more affluent backgrounds.
It is particularly concerning that prominent anti-HPV vaccination voices have also spread disinformation about covid-19 vaccines. For example, well-known anti-vaccination doctors, such as Pierre Kory, spread myths that the HPV vaccine Gardasil wasn鈥檛 safe. Kory later co-founded the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which has pushed the use of ivermectin in treating covid-19, something health authorities recommend against. Kory has since had his by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Conspiracy theories are mutually reinforcing, with research showing how those holding a 鈥溾�� often subscribe to a similar system of beliefs (like distrust in authority) or (such as feeling alienated).
Misinformation and disinformation are like vectors of disease. It is crucial the public health community finds ways to push back against them, for example through 鈥溾��, in which exposing people to misinformation builds up their 鈥渋mmunity鈥� to it 鈥� that is, their ability to spot and resist it.
We need to rebuild confidence in vaccines, including for HPV. If we don鈥檛, vaccine hesitancy will continue to be one of the biggest threats to public health.
Simon Williams is a psychology lecturer and public health researcher at Swansea University, UK
