A 4-year-old child recently died in the United States from the flu. His mother had polled members of an “anti-vaccine” Facebook group. The members of this community advised her not to give her son the medicine prescribed by the doctor.
In the United States, the story of the death of a 4-year-old child from Colorado is undermining the group vaccine movement. Noting that her son has a high fever, the little boy’s mother takes him to the doctor. The latter does not diagnose the flu, but still prescribes an antiviral against this disease, Tamiflu.
Leaving the cabinet, the mother wonders. Back home, she posts a message on the Facebook group “Stop Mandatory Vaccination(“Let’s stop compulsory vaccination”), which has more than 139,000 members. The mother asks netizens whether or not she should give the medicine to her son.
Her message states that two of her four children had been diagnosed with the flu and that she is treating them with lavender and peppermint essential oil – as well as vitamin C – but without success. She receives nearly fifty responses. She is advised natural methods to bring down her son’s fever, such as breast milk, thyme or elderberry. “Perfect, I’ll try that,” replies the mother.
Social media at war with vaccine misinformation
Shortly after the consultation, the little boy was hospitalized and died of the flu four days later. According to other messages posted by the mother on the Facebook group, none of her children had been vaccinated against the flu since 2017.
“This is a tragedy and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. We don’t want vaccine misinformation on Facebook, which is why we’re working hard to reduce it everywhere on the platform, including in private groups,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
In March 2019, the social network is committed to combating misinformation about vaccines, following in the footsteps of most other platforms, such as Youtube, Pinterest or Twitter, on which there are also many anti-vaccine groups.
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