When most people think of YouTube, thoughts of music clips, practical jokes caught on tape, and funny video spoofs come to mind. And they're all harmless. But a study published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association on the video-sharing site YouTube found it to be a bastion of the growing anti-vaccination movement.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto, analyzed 153 videos about vaccination and immunization and coded them based on how they portrayed childhood, HPV, flu, and other vaccinations: negatively, positively, or ambiguously. More than half of the videos portrayed vaccinations and immunizations in a negative or ambivalent light.
The claims these videos made ranged from childhood vaccinations causing autism to thimerosal-preserved vaccine causing permanent injury, all unsubstantiated claims that have no scientific basis.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this study is that anti-vaccination videos were "rated" higher and had more views than those which got the facts right. "From a public health perspective, this is very concerning," said Dr. Jennifer Keelan, an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Public Health Sciences and one of the researchers in this study.
Here at ACSH, we too are concerned. Doctors can try to broadcast the benefits of vaccination on a daily basis. But how can they compete with these sensationalistic videos? One, titled "The Truth About Vaccines," has gotten more than 26,000 views. This video is dedicated to children who were "killed" because of vaccinations -- and it likens vaccination proponents to Hitler. What are scientists to do?
The University of Toronto research team did a great service to public health by conducting this study and publishing the results. Now it's the public health community's responsibility to speak up. If the loudest voice is going to be the one heard, let's start making some noise.
Corrie Driebusch is a research associate at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com).
See also: ACSH's full report, booklet, and leaflet on vaccines.
