Correcting inaccurate information about vaccines is a significant challenge, a study published in the journal Vaccine found.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the effect of misinformation spread about the HPV vaccine in Denmark via media outlets from 2013 to 2016. They also examined the effect of a 2017 campaign launched by health officials to combat the misinformation.
They examined HPV vaccine use among 328,779 Danish girls, ages 12 to 15 years. They used data from the Danish national health registry from 2009 to 2019, when the HPV vaccine was freely available to girls in primary care clinics in Denmark.
Researchers found that the misinformation spread by the media between 2013 and 2016 led to a 50.4 percent drop in the HPV vaccination rate.
The Danish Health Agency, Danish Cancer Society and Danish Medical Association partnered on a campaign, costing about $1 million, that provided information aimed at reducing vaccine hesitancy by sharing personal stories from women with cervical cancer on social media and digital platforms.
While vaccine rates recovered to baseline levels before 2013, researchers estimated about 26,000 fewer girls received the vaccine than the number that would have received it had vaccine uptake not declined and baseline vaccine rates been maintained through 2013-16.