Notable social media accounts challenge safety of routine vaccines

Prominent figures on social media are expressing concerns about the safety and efficacy of routine vaccines. A doctor who has regularly questioned vaccine safety claims there is not enough evidence to show that routine vaccines prevent disease transmission in workplaces and schools. Meanwhile, a global vaccine opponent group is calling for a re-evaluation of vaccine mandates, claiming that safety concerns were overlooked and that mandates lack a clinical rationale. Finally, a widely circulated post by a biotech and molecular biology professional questions the legitimacy of the childhood vaccine schedule. He has launched a website that he claims will help people better understand vaccine ingredients, research methods, and scientific terminology.

Risk level: High

Recommendation: Social media posts questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines may promote vaccine hesitancy, especially when those posts are coming from credentialed experts. It is recommended doctors be prepared to answer questions about routine vaccine safety and efficacy as well as vaccine ingredients. Messaging may emphasize that across multiple studies, vaccines and their ingredients have been shown to be safe. The benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks across age groups, because vaccines prevent severe illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases.