Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deliberate misinformation about the safety of vaccines is not only irresponsible— it costs lives.
Recommendation
Deliberate misinformation about the safety of vaccines is not only irresponsible— it costs lives. Tackling state-backed falsehoods on covid-19 should be an integral part of the Government’s global health security strategy. To promote global access to covid-19 vaccines and bring the pandemic under control, communities around the world need access to reliable information about immunisation, delivered in a format that is accessible and inspires trust. This requires strong local media outlets. The FCDO should lead on efforts to counter health misinformation internationally. 24 Global Health, Global Britain In particular, it should target support to independent local media outlets in regions at risk of high levels of vaccine hesitancy. The Government should give the BBC World Service long-term funding to tackle fake news, with a focus on strategic locations such as Russia and China. (Paragraph 33) Aid and global health
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government takes the issue of misinformation and disinformation very seriously. The DCMS-led Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit brings together monitoring and analysis capabilities from across Government. Its primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of disinformation and misinformation linked to COVID-19, and to work with partners to tackle it. The Government convened a regular Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum, which brought together a range of stakeholder, including social media platforms, academia, and civil society groups to discuss threats to the information environment, from December 2020 until June 2021. Good progress was made, and regular engagement with platforms will continue both bilaterally and through smaller group meetings focussed on anti- vaccination misinformation and disinformation. We have been working to combat health misinformation and support vaccine confidence around the world as part of our Global Vaccine Confidence Campaign. As part of our G7 Presidency, we hosted the G7 Global Vaccine Confidence Summit in June 2021 and have been working with the OECD and other partners to develop best-practice communications principles to tackle misinformation and disinformation for governments around the world. In partnership with the World Health Organization, we have co-delivered digital activity which has focused on building resilience to misinformation and promoting COVID-19 vaccine benefits, resulting in 153 million total views since launch. We have also developed the international Healthcare Practitioners Toolkit to support healthcare workers to build vaccine confidence, delivering this through 130+ international healthcare associations and membership bodies, reaching healthcare practitioners globally. We are supportive of ensuring access to trusted, impartial media. However, the BBC is editorially independent so the provision of additional services to tackle disinformation is for the BBC World Service to decide. FCDO provided BBC World Service with an £8 million funding uplift for 2021–22. £3 million was specifically to tackle disinformation. In total, FCDO has invested £473 million in the World Service since 2016, which has helped contribute to tackling health misinformation across a wide spread of themes and geographical areas.