Vaccine misinformation has been a widespread issue on the social network Facebook for years, and only earlier this year did the platform finally introduce policies that would address the problem.
Now, the social network has expanded those policies and its efforts to vaccinate children against COVID-19, shortly after the FDA authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages five to eleven. engadget.com.
In the coming weeks, Facebook will send reminders to users in the U.S. in English and Spanish that the COVID-19 vaccine is now available for children. These reminders will also include a link to help users find the nearest vaccination location.
Perhaps most importantly, it will expand its anti-vaccine disinformation policies to remove claims that COVID-19 vaccines do not exist and that vaccines for children are untested. It will also remove any claims that these vaccines can kill or seriously harm children, that they are not at all effective for children, and that anything other than a COVID-19 vaccine can inoculate children against the virus.
Facebook says its fight against vaccine misinformation is part of an ongoing effort in partnership with the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities. The social network promises to continue to update its policies and ban any new claims about the COVID-19 vaccine for children that emerge in the future.
The website, which now operates under its own meme company called Meta, says it has removed more than 20 million pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram since the start of the pandemic. As of August 2021, it has also banned 3 accounts, groups and pages for persistent violations of its health misinformation policies.