U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm in a July report, “Confronting Health Misinformation.” declaring misinformation “an urgent threat to our health that requires an all-of-society response".

The non-profit Vaccinate Your Family created a valuable, practical slideshow with excellent guidance on “Combating Misinformation Online.” Look through their slideshow and make use of their suggestions to help ensure people in our community are getting accurate information about COVID and life-saving vaccines.

According to the CDC, “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.” The CDC says, “Over 380 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the U.S. from December 14, 2020, through September 13, 2021… COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met the FDA’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality.” CDC ongoing monitoring of COVID vaccine safety has found that “serious safety problems are rare.”

Research by U.S. government scientists shows vaccines save millions of lives in the U.S. and worldwide. Yet anti-vaxxers deliberately misrepresent other government data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to frighten people.

Healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and vaccine recipients submit reports of any adverse health events that follow vaccination through VAERS, providing health officials with raw data for analysis. Adverse events reported through VAERS are investigated by public health scientists to determine if they’re related to vaccination. Investigations are needed because many health events simply occur coincidentally in the period after vaccination, unrelated to the vaccine.

However, anti-vaxx groups distort this raw, unanalyzed data, claiming all adverse health events are caused by vaccinations.

The CDC explains that “studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing Autism”, contrary to repeated false claims made by anti-vaxxers. “The National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as Institute of Medicine, reviewed the safety of 8 vaccines to children and adults. The review found that with rare exceptions, these vaccines are very safe. “

All medical interventions and preventive care procedures such as cancer screening and vaccinations are analyzed from a cost-benefit perspective. FDA approved vaccines have an overwhelmingly greater benefit to individuals (e.g, avoiding a serious preventable disease), compared to the cost of any minor side effects. The benefits to individuals and society are even greater when a large majority of the population is vaccinated.

Anti-vaxxers tout “health freedom.” But prioritizing individual “health freedom” above all else during a pandemic is selfish and foolhardy. It ignores that we all are members of a larger community, including children, for whom vaccines are not yet approved, and at-risk individuals, who we share responsibility for protecting. A caring community health response to COVID requires that we all work together.

People and groups espousing“health freedom” also ignore the burden placed on those who can’t be vaccinated such as families with young children or those who will not benefit as much from vaccines, like immune-compromised people. For these individuals and families at risk, their fear of exposure to COVID-19 and the necessary restrictions on their daily activities, is far from a life of freedom.