Anti-vaccine groups use social media to spread misinformation. Now social media networks are fighting back against the harm from bogus claims about the dangers of vaccinations. The CDC remains adamant about the individual and greater societal health benefits from vaccines. Previously our coverage of vaccinations on Health Tech Insider rightly focused on technology, such as developmental work at Emory University and Georgia Tech on a microneedle patch for painless vaccinations.
The UK-based International Longevity Centre (ILC) recently issued a report on global technology implementations to surmount obstacles to vaccination. In “Data, Bots, and Drones,” co-sponsored by Sanofi, the ILC notes current tech efforts and suggest future ideas to support adult vaccination. Among their recommendations: a University of Queensland postage-stamp-sized nanopatch that delivers vaccine with thousands of tiny spikes, a digital necklace that holds medical history including vaccination data designed by a medical student in India, and Circulation‘s healthcare transportation program that uses Uber and Lyft to get patients to appointments.
A wide range of additional suggestions for technology in the ILC report includes location-based alerts to prompt at-risk groups to get their shots, immersive virtual reality to drive home the scourge of specific diseases, bots with which people concerned about vaccinations could discuss the topic without blame or rancor, and much, much more.
Science and technology exist in the real world, which today means a world with sharply divided beliefs, intentional and highly-funded misinformation campaigns, and a highly-politicized view of science itself. Science has the tools to fight back against suspiciously motivated anti-science campaigns such as the anti-vaccination forces.
