Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission
Vaccines are one of the safest medical interventions in history and can protect against infectious diseases and ensure important health benefits. Despite these advantages, health professionals and policymakers face significant challenges in terms of vaccine rollout, as vaccine hesitancy is a global...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/2/50 |
| _version_ | 1797409225117270016 |
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| author | Nabeela Mumtaz Caroline Green Jim Duggan |
| author_facet | Nabeela Mumtaz Caroline Green Jim Duggan |
| author_sort | Nabeela Mumtaz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vaccines are one of the safest medical interventions in history and can protect against infectious diseases and ensure important health benefits. Despite these advantages, health professionals and policymakers face significant challenges in terms of vaccine rollout, as vaccine hesitancy is a global challenge, and varies greatly with context, i.e., place, time, and vaccines. The internet has rapidly become a widely used information source for health-related issues, and a medium where misinformation in relation to vaccines on social media can spread rapidly and influence many. This research models the impact of vaccine confidence on the transmission of infectious diseases. This involves two interacting contagion models, one for the disease itself, and the other for the public’s views on vaccination. Sensitivity analysis and loop impact analysis are used to explore the effects of misinformation and vaccine confidence on the spread of infectious diseases. The analysis indicates that high vaccine confidence has a reinforcing effect on vaccination levels and helps to reduce the spread of an infectious disease. The results show that higher vaccine confidence can mitigate against the impact of misinformation, and by doing so can contribute to the enhanced control of an infectious disease outbreak. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:11:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7e2d51365be481d87d83b02f1649a32 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-8954 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:11:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7e2d51365be481d87d83b02f1649a322023-12-03T14:00:57ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542022-04-011025010.3390/systems10020050Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease TransmissionNabeela Mumtaz0Caroline Green1Jim Duggan2School of Computer Science, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, IrelandData Science Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, IrelandSchool of Computer Science, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, IrelandVaccines are one of the safest medical interventions in history and can protect against infectious diseases and ensure important health benefits. Despite these advantages, health professionals and policymakers face significant challenges in terms of vaccine rollout, as vaccine hesitancy is a global challenge, and varies greatly with context, i.e., place, time, and vaccines. The internet has rapidly become a widely used information source for health-related issues, and a medium where misinformation in relation to vaccines on social media can spread rapidly and influence many. This research models the impact of vaccine confidence on the transmission of infectious diseases. This involves two interacting contagion models, one for the disease itself, and the other for the public’s views on vaccination. Sensitivity analysis and loop impact analysis are used to explore the effects of misinformation and vaccine confidence on the spread of infectious diseases. The analysis indicates that high vaccine confidence has a reinforcing effect on vaccination levels and helps to reduce the spread of an infectious disease. The results show that higher vaccine confidence can mitigate against the impact of misinformation, and by doing so can contribute to the enhanced control of an infectious disease outbreak.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/2/50vaccine confidencemisinformationinfectious disease transmissionsensitivity analysisloop impact analysis |
| spellingShingle | Nabeela Mumtaz Caroline Green Jim Duggan Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission Systems vaccine confidence misinformation infectious disease transmission sensitivity analysis loop impact analysis |
| title | Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission |
| title_full | Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission |
| title_short | Exploring the Effect of Misinformation on Infectious Disease Transmission |
| title_sort | exploring the effect of misinformation on infectious disease transmission |
| topic | vaccine confidence misinformation infectious disease transmission sensitivity analysis loop impact analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/2/50 |
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