We must prevent a vaccine 'infodemic' from fuelling the pandemic | Melinda Mills

Wise governments will take a leaf out of the anti-vaxxers' book by creating campaigns that persuade through engagement

The world has been offered a first ray of hope for a potential Covid-19 vaccine, created by Pfizer and BioNTech. So far, efforts have been focused on the manufacture and deployment of this and many other vaccines. Now that we have our first candidate, attention will turn to uptake. If researchers offer a vaccine, will people volunteer for it? And if they don't, why not?

As the World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned in March, we are not only fighting a pandemic, but also an infodemic", a deluge of information - both factual and incorrect. This can generate doubt and vaccine hesitancy, which the WHO listed as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. A recent survey conducted in the UK found that 36% of people were either uncertain or very unlikely to be vaccinated against Covid-19.