SINGAPORE, June 12 — Mr Jake Goh, 51, a principal of a privately-run pre-school, does not mind it when people label him as a conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaccine advocate. “Whether I am a conspiracy theorist or not, time will tell. I’m not trying to argue with people, I’m just here to...
SINGAPORE, June 12 — Mr Jake Goh, 51, a principal of a privately-run pre-school, does not mind it when people label him as a conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaccine advocate.
“You can gather a lot of knowledge from the internet. Not everything the doctor says about vaccines is correct,” said Mr Goh. His sister, who lives in France where some 110,000 people have died from Covid-19, often chides him for telling others not to get the jab when he has not seen firsthand how horrific the disease can become outside of Singapore.
Then, the fallout also spread to her close friends, whom she has known for decades, after she began sharing articles depicting Covid-19 as a lab-made bioweapon, and defending these articles when her friends challenged her. As Singaporeans, and people elsewhere, suffer from an information overload regarding Covid-19 — where fact, fiction and half-truths abound — it takes patience and effort to engage people with strongly held beliefs that are based on falsehoods, sid Ms Tin Pei Ling, Member of Parliament for MacPherson.
But along with this progress, the number of incidents involving misinformation has also increased lately, some noted. He was referring to a petition by 12 doctors, who had disagreed with the Government’s decision to roll out mRNA vaccines, and also discouraged parents from vaccinating their children. “We are starting from a good position now. But hypothetically, if there is wave after wave of infections, and lockdowns after lockdowns are needed, that would be the fertile ground for malicious misinformation to proliferate,” he said.Tracing the roots of misinformation to their sources would likely reveal one of several motivations behind its spread: These include political and ideological reasons, commercial profit, mischief, but also cases of genuine misunderstanding, said experts.
“The mindset of ‘better be safe than sorry’ is ironically what compels these people to share untruths,” he said.When it comes to Covid-19, however, the scientific nature of the coronavirus and vaccines renders it hard for people to make their own conclusions about the science. Thus, it is key that people can turn to experts with the right credentials and experience to help them sort fact from fiction.
What makes this pandemic a perfect storm for misinformation to be reinforced and spread is because it concerns a new virus, fast-emerging viral strains, and cutting-edge vaccines that will take time to fully understand them. ― Photo by Nuria Ling for T Mr Jake Goh, who runs one such group on Telegram, claimed that its purpose is to create awareness because “transparency is needed in public health”, so that the public can make an informed decision about vaccines.
On this, IPS’ Dr Soon and Mr Shawn Goh said that it is often the case that those who go the extra mile to look up information on vaccine efficacy may end up reinforcing their own beliefs. It is one thing to issue a statement such as “in all the participants in the clinical trials, we have not observed a death event”, as opposed to “this vaccine does not cause death in anyone who takes it”, he said.
The media and fact-checking organisations, for example, do not have the complete information needed to deal with complex scientific problems, but they should have access to trusted experts and policymakers to distill the information for the public. It is possible, though drawing a link between a falsehood and a state-originated disinformation campaign is difficult, said Ms Dymples Leong, a senior analyst at CENS.
Nevertheless, Singapore is also being closely watched for what vaccines it buys and uses for its national vaccination programme, he added. Ms Tin, the MacPherson MP, told TODAY: “The Government is faced with the responsibility to contain and control the virus in the fastest time possible to reduce the damage to our people to the minimum possible.
IPS’ Dr Soon and Mr Goh said of these efforts: “Effective communication of science is needed to build resilience against vaccine misinformation and foster public trust in science.
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