VIDEO: Vaccine misinformation, disinformation 'dangerously accessible'

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The amount of vaccine misinformation and disinformation is seemingly ubiquitous and it can be overwhelming for our patients to sift through. First, though I wanted to clarify that misinformation is false or inaccurate information, getting the facts wrong. There is also disinformation, which is false information, which is deliberately intended to mislead. In other words, intentionally misstating the facts. Both anti-vaccine misinformation and disinformation can create confusion for our patients and their presence in online platforms and social media also makes misinformation and disinformation dangerously accessible. Physicians and clinicians and other healthcare professionals can redirect our patients to verified and credible sources of accurate vaccine information.

The American College of Physicians, the physician membership organization, which represents internal medicine physicians, of which I am a member, has numerous resources to assist in these efforts. ACP has two video series, which provide vaccine education and strategies to help combat health misinformation and disinformation, including about vaccinations. There's one series called "Ask Your Internal Medicine Physician," which is mostly a patient-facing video series. There's a second video series called "Physician to Physician Conversations," which is more directed at fellow physicians.

These are available on YouTube and web-based platforms as well as on social media and on YouTube. ACP is committed to stopping and preventing the spread of disinformation and misinformation. And vigorously supports the use of science and scientific expertise based on the best available evidence. ACP's efforts can range from weekly publishing of evidence-based scientific content, creating educational materials, issuing public statements, and collaborating with like-minded organizations.

Specifically for ACP resources, there is a website within the ACP resources called "Fighting Medical Misinformation and Disinformation," and that can be a good resource for all of our healthcare professionals. There are also numerous other resources within ACP's "I Raise The Rates" adult immunization campaign, and these include webinar recordings, patient-facing and physician resources in the journal, "Annals of Internal Medicine," and several other resources. Physicians who may belong to other membership organizations can likely also find similar and additional resources from their other membership organizations as well.