Misinformation Alerts
Knowing what misinformation is being shared can help you generate effective messaging.
These insights are based on a combination of automated media monitoring and manual review by public health data analysts. Media data are publicly available data from many sources, such as social media, broadcast television, newspapers and magazines, news websites, online video, blogs, and more. Analysts from the Public Good Projects triangulate this data along with other data from fact checking organizations and investigative sources to provide an accurate, but not exhaustive, list of currently circulating misinformation.
Misinformation Alerts
Knowing what misinformation is being shared can help you generate effective messaging.
These insights are based on a combination of automated media monitoring and manual review by public health data analysts. Media data are publicly available data from many sources, such as social media, broadcast television, newspapers and magazines, news websites, online video, blogs, and more. Analysts from the Public Good Projects triangulate this data along with other data from fact checking organizations and investigative sources to provide an accurate, but not exhaustive, list of currently circulating misinformation.
Alerts are categorized as high, medium, and low risk.
- High risk alerts: Narratives with widespread circulation across communities, high engagement, exponential velocity, and a high potential to impact health decisions. Are often more memorable than accurate information.
- Medium risk alerts: Narratives that are circulating in priority populations and pose some threat to health. Potential for further spread due to the tactics used or because of predicted velocity. Often highlights the questions and concerns of people.
- Low risk alerts: Narratives that are limited in reach, don’t impact your community, or lack the qualities necessary for future spread. May indicate information gaps, confusion, or concerns.
In a social media post with tens of thousands of engagements, a user claims that her husband developed myocarditis and a chronic, fatal heart condition after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The account has frequently promoted misinformation about vaccine safety and, in the last year, has claimed that vaccines caused severe injuries to herself, her aunt, and even her dog.
Recommendation: 
A physician-researcher who gained prominence for promoting COVID-19 conspiracy theories recently claimed that the flu vaccine is “built on a lie.” In a video clip, he falsely claims that the purpose of the vaccine is not to protect against the flu but to indoctrinate people into taking a vaccine every year.
Recommendation: 
An anti-mandate account posted an image to social media mocking a person receiving a vaccination while wearing a mask for being injected with “unknown substances” while being “afraid to breathe air.”
Recommendation: 
An image that is circulating on multiple social media platforms insinuates that COVID-19 vaccines are causing a global cancer epidemic. The image shows a fact-checking article from last year that debunked the claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer next to a news headline about a study that found an increase in cancer worldwide in people under the age of 50. By placing the two headlines together, the post urges readers to assume causation.
Recommendation:
A conspiracy news site published an article falsely claiming that one in 500 children under age 5 who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were hospitalized from vaccine side effects. The basis for the claim is a study in which 10 young children out of 7,800 who received the Pfizer were hospitalized.
Recommendation:
A video clip and social media post from a popular right-wing political commentator launched a firestorm of misinformation about the CDC updating its childhood immunization schedule to include COVID-19 vaccination. The commentator misrepresented the CDC’s recommendations by claiming that the agency is requiring all school-aged children to receive COVID-19 vaccines to attend school. This false claim has been repeated by several high-profile figures and news sites.
Recommendation:
Several large social media accounts circulated a video clip of President Biden at a FEMA meeting last year encouraging people who live in areas that are prone to hurricanes to get vaccinated before hurricane season. The video was shared last week with the false claim that the president claimed that COVID-19 vaccines would protect people against Hurricane Ian.
Recommendation:
A small study of 11 people has gone viral after finding that breast milk may contain trace amounts of mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines up to 48 hours after vaccination. The study has been circulated worldwide by several high-profile social media accounts and right-wing news sites, with some claiming that getting vaccinated while breastfeeding is dangerous for babies. The study did not find that breastfeeding after COVID-19 vaccination was unsafe and only recommended avoiding breastfeeding in the first two days after vaccination out of an abundance of caution.
Recommendation:
An article from a conspiracy site falsely claims that the Canadian government ended its COVID-19 vaccine mandate because vaccinated people make up nine out of 10 COVID-19 deaths.
Recommendation:
A recent study examines a potential link between the aluminum in some vaccines and childhood asthma. The study found a slight increase in asthma that corresponded to children’s exposure to aluminum, which was estimated using vaccination records.
Recommendation:
Alerts are categorized as high, medium, and low risk.
- High risk alerts: Narratives with widespread circulation across communities, high engagement, exponential velocity, and a high potential to impact health decisions. Are often more memorable than accurate information.
- Medium risk alerts: Narratives that are circulating in priority populations and pose some threat to health. Potential for further spread due to the tactics used or because of predicted velocity. Often highlights the questions and concerns of people.
- Low risk alerts: Narratives that are limited in reach, don’t impact your community, or lack the qualities necessary for future spread. May indicate information gaps, confusion, or concerns.
Vaccine Misinformation Guide
Get practical tips for addressing misinformation in this new guide. Click image to download.
Vaccine Misinformation Guide
Get practical tips for addressing misinformation in this new guide. Click image to download, or see highlights.