The Presentation of the Anti-Vaccination Movement in Social Networking Sites

Abstract

Introduction: The anti-vaccination movement has started to develop into a major public health problem. After 1998, measles re-emerged in the UK and subsequently caused further outbreaks in Europe. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases were searched with keywords antivaccine, media, internet, social media. The results were ranked according to their content. The anti-vaccination movement's online media presence was reviewedon websites and search engines and social media such as facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest and the older chatrooms and myspace. Results: While Web 1 was static, Web 2 and its future evolution, the Semantic Web is mutable and interactive. Social media offers the possibility to publish not only text but also image and video increasing the power and immediacy of communication. Users can upload content such as videos, pages and interact with each other. Thus, the roles of producers and consumers of news alternate, without the need for an intermediary. Thus, anyone is at the same time a channel owner, a broadcast producer without being subject to ethical rules. Conclusions: The anti-vaccination movement is not new. But has evolved with the advancement of technology and managed to follow the trends of the time by exploiting the nature of interactive media. The rhetoric of the anti-vaccination movement uses the power of image and video, the emotional charge of the personal stories they invoke. His argument is rooted in safeguarding personal liberty, conspiracy theories, and concern about adverse reactions are the main arguments used by vaccine hesitancy groups and should be addressed in communication with the health care service users.