Full article: How to counter health misinformation when it’s coming from the top

> The super spreaders of health misinformation are no longer fringe figures. They now control the public health in the United States. > > Health misinformation is a complex problem with no simple solutions. It’s both a symptom of broader societal issues (e.g. attacks on science, lower societal trust) and a cause of misbeliefs, confusion about health topics, and reduced vaccine uptake. Yet, interventions are possible. > Misinformation is difficult to define, and while experts agree on many of its key factors, disagreement persists on the boundaries of the term (Altay et al. Citation2023). As a psychologist who researches misinformation, my favorite definition is an adaptation of the definition of science misinformation proposed by a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine consensus study (Viswanath, Taylor, and Rhodes et al. Citation2024). Misinformation about health is information that asserts or implies claims that are inconsistent with the weight of accepted scientific evidence at the time. > > As the definition makes clear, misinformation encompasses more than just false statements. True information that strongly implies a false conclusion—like a widely shared 2021 Chicago Tribune headline during the COVID pandemic, “A ‘Healthy’ Doctor Died Two Weeks After Getting A Covid −19 Vaccine; CDC Is Investigating Why”—can still be classified as misinformation. It was technically true, but strongly implied that the vaccine was a plausible cause for the doctor’s death. > While exposure to the false narrative that flu shots are ineffective may have played a role in that decision, it is difficult to quantify the exact effects of health misinformation on people’s health decisions. Misinformation researcher Claire Wardle likens the effects of misinformation exposure to the effect of drops of water on a rock: The impact of any individual drop is imperceptible, but over time the shape of the rock is dramatically changed (Wardle Citation2023). > Health misinformation is a whole-of-society problem with no quick fixes, but that does not mean that we are doomed to live in a world without easy access to accurate health information. In a recent study on understanding science misinformation, my colleagues and I identified four points at which it might be possible to intervene and disrupt misinformation: supply, demand, distribution, and uptake (Viswanath et al. Citation2024).