US steps up fight against COVID-19 misinformation
Al Jazeera
The effort comes as the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations has slowed throughout the US, due in part to false claims.
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Thursday called for a national effort to fight misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, urging tech companies, health care workers, journalists and everyday Americans to do more to address a problem “that cost us lives”. In a 22-page advisory, his first as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general, Murthy wrote that bogus claims have led people to reject vaccines and public health advice on masks and social distancing, undermining efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic and putting lives at risk. The warning comes as the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations has slowed throughout the US, in part because of vaccine opposition fueled by unsubstantiated claims about the safety of immunisations and despite the US death toll recently passing 600,000.
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