“Our common enemy is COVID-19, but our enemy is also an “infodemic” of misinformation. To overcome the coronavirus, we need to urgently promote facts and science, hope and solidarity over despair and division,” reads a post by Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), on Twitter in March 2020.
Despite the concern expressed by Guterres at the start of what became a pandemic, fake news and misinformation on COVID continued to spread worldwide. In Nigeria, there was widespread misinformation coupled with homegrown myths and conspiracy theories on and outside of social media platforms. A long list of false claims followed the detection of COVID in 2019, and after Nigeria confirmed its first case in February 2020. Some claimed their vaccine injection sites caused light bulbs to turn on. Others said hot weather kills the virus. Added to these claims were links to infertility, the only-for-the-rich mantra, and rumours that some people developed magnetic skin after getting vaccinated.
While misinformation can be harmful, and even deadly, it can be difficult to stop. Anyone can spread a false claim through social media, with a few options for holding them accountable. With current global concern on the possibility of another major health crisis considering the recent reports of a sudden spike in COVID cases in China between April and May 2023, is COVID related misinformation still affecting Nigerians’ views? And, what can be done to counter it?
Advertisement
...Congress leaders Harshwardhan Sapkal and Nana Patole, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) legislator Rohit Pawar, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said PM Modi's sp...