Disinformation threatens vaccine confidence, WHO warns

Vaccination programs are under threat from growing disinformation and uncertainties about research funding, World Health Organization (WHO) experts warned this Wednesday. The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Vaccination (SAGE) held its semi-annual meeting last week, focusing particularly on COVID-19 and typhoid vaccines. "Among the emerging new challenges is uncertainty about funding for research and development of vaccines, as well as disinformation and distorted information that erode public trust in vaccines," SAGE warned in a statement. The group stated that "protecting trust and fighting disinformation will be priorities in 2026." "We are living in a period of profound change, both in terms of infectious diseases and vaccination programs," said Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO's immunization and vaccines department, alluding to conflicts, economic difficulties, and budget constraints. "Trust in vaccines is threatened by disinformation. The risk is a setback, even that some countries decide they cannot finance all the vaccines planned in their program," she also told the press. After Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Secretary of Health, made anti-vaccine statements and spread claims linking vaccines to autism, a WHO analysis published in December reaffirmed the absence of a link between vaccines and this neurological disorder. "Vaccines do not cause autism and never have," O’Brien reiterated, recalling that vaccines have saved 154 million lives in the last 50 years. Furthermore, SAGE expressed concern about the persistent transmission of the wild poliovirus in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as the detection of type 2 poliovirus – a strain related to the live attenuated poliovirus contained in oral vaccines – in Africa. "The conflict in the Middle East could lead to a new spread of polioviruses, further complicating the eradication goal," warned Anthony Scott, president of SAGE. Regarding COVID-19 vaccination, SAGE recommended considering systematic twice-yearly vaccination for high-risk groups, due to the decreasing level of protection beyond six months.