Agence France-Presse: Fight vaccine hesitancy as ‘contagious disease,’ U.N. meeting told
“Faced with a global resurgence of measles, health experts called Tuesday for countries to step up the fight against vaccine resistance, warning the movement was spreading like a contagious disease. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined experts and health ministers from a range of countries at an event on ‘promoting vaccine confidence,’ amid rising concerns that resistance to immunization is allowing preventable diseases to flourish…” (5/21).

Reuters: Vaccine doubts spread like disease, must be taken offline: vaccine chief
“…Speaking at a U.S.-sponsored event on the sidelines of the World Health Organization’s annual assembly in Geneva, Gavi CEO Seth Berkley said there was a strong scientific consensus about the safety of vaccines. But social media algorithms favored sensational content over scientific facts, rapidly convincing people who had never seen family members die from preventable illness. … Misinformation about vaccines, which the WHO says save two million lives annually, was not a freedom of speech issue and social media firms need to take it offline, Berkley said…” (Miles, 5/21).

Additional coverage of the side event is available from IDSA’s “Science Speaks” blog.